Faithful Cheaters
by shamelessllamapeanutthing
Summary: As far as infidelity was concerned, they were all pretty loyal to who they cheated on their partners with. (RayxTala) Rating might increase in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Wow. I am extremely unfaithful to my OTPs. **

**This is not a pairing I ever thought I'd like, much less write about but a plot made its way into my mind and now won't leave, and there's no other couple I actually see this working for.**

**A shoutout to Katya92 for all the help she gave me figuring out Tala and his mannerisms in the bar scene. I would have ripped my hair out if it wasn't for you.**

Tala knew there was an affair.

He had known for quite some time now, but a night of Facebook sleuthing had confirmed his suspicions. He had always found it odd that someone as techno-savvy as Bryan would still keep his Facebook running in the age of Instagram and Snapchat, both of which were way better tools to self-promote his work as a personal trainer. Staring at his laptop screen now, he wondered if he was the fool for not keeping tabs on his activities?

No, he told himself. He wasn't responsible for the bastard's infidelity. He wasn't in the wrong for not keeping an eye on Bryan on all his social media. Tala had only trusted that his boyfriend of two years would know better than to treat him this way.

Going to log out of the fake ID he had created just for this purpose, he resisted the urge to check the messages he had exchanged with Bryan on the site. He was a pretty loyal cheater, for what it was worth. When Tala tried flirting with him under the alias of James Williamson, he had firmly informed James about his relationship with the other guy, this Ray Kon, and politely asked him to back off. It only twisted the proverbial knife deeper in Tala's gut to know Bryan probably wasn't a cheater, it was just _Tala_ he had had no qualms being unfaithful to.

Sighing he clicked on the link to Kon's profile instead but the moment that happy looking cover picture of him and Bryan with Frost, _their _husky pup, assaulted his own teal eyes he jerked his face away and found the sleeping profile of his boyfriend. He held back the need to punch his beautiful face.

He guessed he should have known after all. Apart from the hundreds of Tumblr quotes informing him of the fact that if conversations with him were getting shorter, they were probably getting longer with someone else, there was also the fact that their relationship had lost all luster. Passwords of phones had been changed and conversation no longer happened, mere communication did. Their relationship was a dead shell of what it used to be, and neither were in love with each other anymore. Tala was glad for that, at least it meant he didn't feel any real hurt, just anger combined with humiliation, but he still wished Bryan had waited till they split before running to the Chinese mongrel.

Discovering new heights to his masochistic tendencies, Tala went through Kon's page again. It was exactly what his own would never look like, filled with shared memes which only served to annoy the redhead even more. Kon worked at an animal shelter and was a Sagittarius. He drew on the side and despite his anger, Tala was forced to admit, he was damn good at that. What irked him the most was all the pictures the asshole had with Bryan and all the bloody sappy comments the unfaithful bastard had left on them. He never shared comments like those on Tala's Instagram posts about the two of them. Hell, he never even said things remotely as sweet within the confines of their bedroom.

Growling, Tala zoomed into a picture of the Chinese bat posing naked against the backdrop of a clear creek set amidst lavish greens. Now, Tala couldn't be sure he was naked, but the camera panned low enough to show off his back, the top of his butt crack and love handles and he noted with fuming jealousy that the picture had been taken by Bryan himself. The comment section was filled with thirsty comments that made Tala blush, but the worst was by Bryan himself which simply said, "All these bitch-shits drooling got no idea you are mine." Complete with a gross heart emoji. Gross.

Tears formed in his eyes but he refused to admit a part of him was aching at this bone-deep betrayal. Bryan seemed so happy with Ray, happier than he had ever been with Tala himself despite all the efforts he had put in before he had inevitably given up on their collapsing relationship. That cut him, his own inadequacy.

Shutting down his laptop, he set it to the side before rolling on to his back and throwing an arm across his face, wondering if they were doomed to fail from the beginning. It had started as a one night stand, the sex had been great, just how Tala liked it, rough and dirty and when they had parted in the morning, it was in high spirits and a jocular mood as they had both told surprisingly similar jokes to diffuse usual after sex tensions. All in all, it all left a great impression on Tala who found himself wishing he could meet Bryan again.

Bryan, on the other hand, had been equally taken by the redhead's charm and wit. Plus, he had a face that would look bloody damn pleasing next to his own. Unattached to anyone, Bryan had asked Tala on a date three weeks after their one-night stand.

It had taken a good three months for Tala to actually say yes to Bryan. He never dated any of his sex partners on principle, and Bryan seemed like an incredibly pleasant memory he didn't want to allow to be tainted by the struggles of a relationship. The lavender-haired man just won't give up though and when Tala finally agreed to go to a date with him, it was more to shut him up than anything else.

That shouldn't be taken to mean he didn't feel butterflies in his stomach when Bryan picked him up from his doorstep with flowers and held the door open for him.

They had a lot of similarities, apart from being Russian and hating Putin. They both preferred whiskey over vodka, and loved dogs more than humans. For the entirety of the date, Tala didn't once lose interest in the conversation. To top it all off, Bryan was Tala's first love interest that Kai didn't reject after one look at him as an unfit match for Tala. Of course, Kai, as Tala's best friend was prone to bias, but he was as good a judge of character as any.

So Tala had agreed to another date, and another, and then one more, till they were seeing each other regularly and made it official. It was amazing for the first ten months or so but then like every flame that burned too bright, it flickered out all too fast and they lost all love for each other over the course of the next four months or so. They hadn't fallen out or had huge fights because they were so similar they couldn't find anything to argue about when they agreed on everything. They had just lost interest.

Their living arrangements were convenient though, they got regular sex that was still bloody amazing and neither wanted to give up on the totally to-die-for flat they shared. Since they weren't really interested in other people either (or so Tala thought) nobody brought up the inevitable break up.

Tala scoffed, it was good while it lasted so he didn't see why it had to end like this. Was Bryan trying to spare his feelings? Did he genuinely think this was the right way through, that this was somehow better?

He felt his boyfriend shift next to him and a pale, muscled arm wrapped around his own waist. Even their skin tones were the same. Stroking Bryan's arm idly, Tala didn't realize when he woke up.

"What's wrong, Tal?"

No, he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt. He was used to Bryan, his presence comforted him, and he didn't even want to think about what life without him would be like.

"Nothing, Bry. Go to sleep, you have that early morning meeting with that actress tomorrow."

He didn't. He was going to take Kon out for breakfast and then a tour of the new art exhibition downtown. The asshole had posted about it.

"Are you sure you're okay? I could always postpone. Do you want us to go out together somewhere tomorrow?", Bryan questioned.

Bryan's comments on that post made it clear that he was really looking forward to the excursion, and it really wasn't for his love of art.

"No," Tala smiled. "I am fine. You do your best tomorrow. Get 'em, tiger." Except he had them, both of them and his grin made it obvious he wasn't bothered by it in the slightest.

…

Kai took a sip of his black coffee. Tala couldn't for the life of him understand why anybody would want to drink that vile, bitter thing but Kai claimed he couldn't function without it.

"So what are you going to do about it now?"

The slate-haired male leaned back in his chair, regarding Tala carefully. He had said nothing to give away his own thoughts on the matter so far, but years of being friends had taught Tala to read his body language well and it was clear he wasn't taking Bryan's infidelity well.

"I am going to confront him."

"And then? Throw a bitch fit? Slash his tires? Are you really that pathetic?" Tala could see it in Kai's eyes now. His rage had gotten the better of him. He sought to hurt Bryan now. Tala sighed. Despite how much he himself wanted to tear the bastard into two, he couldn't sic Kai on him. That would only result in death for both parties and eternal mourning for himself.

"No. I am really that mature. Part and parcel of being adults."

"It's not being mature, it's being spineless, Tala!" A balled fist met their table-top and Tala put his head in his hands. "He can't do this to you and get away with it!"

"He's not going to get away with it!"

"Yes, because whatever arguments and abuse you are going to hurl at him is going to be just as hurtful to him as it was for you to find out about him going and pissing all over your relationship!"

He grew silent at that.

"Look, you need to show him how it feels to be cheated on, and discarded like nothing. Can't you see it? He isn't sorry in the least! He is just stringing you along and is probably gonna keep doing it till that inbred Oriental slut asks him to move in or something!"

"Like he'd care if I was to cheat on him now!"

"No, but from the looks of it, he'd definitely care if that Asian freak did."

…

When he saw Ray Kon for the first time he was almost ready to forgive Bryan. That guy was a little too tempting. His pictures definitely didn't do any justice to him. He had high cheekbones, full lips, and a rich tan complexion. Long raven strands feel carelessly onto his shoulders in thick waves and his amber eyes set his face with a very elusive and mysterious aura.

That only made the Russian want to hurl.

He was at the bar and the Chinese man was sitting some distance away at a table with a group of friends around him. Tala knew all of them from his nights of stalking. Bryan had pictures with all of them. He was pretty tight with Ray's friends, whereas he never even bothered to meet Tala's. Kai was the only friend of his Bryan didn't mind but when it came to Mariah, Michael or Johnny, he seemed to loathe all three of them with a passion, for no reason whatsoever.

Forcing all thoughts of the bastard aside, Tala focussed on his prey for the night. A smirk made its way on to his lips. He felt like himself for the first time in two years. This was what he was like, what he liked doing. Charming his way into the lives of random strangers, gave him the euphoric sense of power little else could. He had always enjoyed this. Not that he was opposed to commitment, but he had sure missed the freedom being single gave one, especially after their relationship had started falling through the cracks and he still found himself shackled to it.

Sipping his drink, he waited for when it was the amber-eyed boy's turn to come and buy a round for the table. Just to make extra sure, he would bring out his best pick up line, and his most charming smile. Tala was assured in the fact that this wasn't his only chance to make the cunt sway though. They had more than a mutual. Mariah's brother Lee was apparently his friend from school, and the pink-haired girl herself had gone on a couple of dates with his friend's girl, Hillary. So, if this failed, Tala only hoped he didn't come across like a major creep so he could continue trying to woo Ray over strategically set 'chance meetings'.

Lost in thoughts like those, he didn't notice when the Chinese boy walked over to the bar. It was only when he called out for his order of a round of shots, that Tala was jolted out of his reverie.

He had a pleasant voice with a slight lisp, that made Tala lose his bearing momentarily so that whatever carefully constructed pick up line he was about to use, fled his memory. He found himself hard-pressed for time, as Kon turned to leave, so he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

"Hey, beautiful?"

He could have smacked himself upside his own head. Thank god, that you couldn't actually forget how to smile your most charming smile too.

Kon turned with a confused smile, "Do I know you?"

"I bet you want to."

The slightly confused smile dropped to give way to a despairing frown. "No! That's not gonna work."

It was Tala's turn to raise a brow in confusion.

"Nobody likes to hear something this presumptuous and cocky from someone trying to take them home. Try for a little more flattery."

Two seconds of stunned silence later, Tala's ego decided it wanted to get bruised. "Why don't you tell me your best line?!", he challenged.

Ray smiled with a shrug, before stepping closer to Tala, motioning for the waiter who had appeared with their shot glasses to proceed to their table. "Is there an airport close by, or is that the sound of my heart taking off?", he questioned while waggling his brows comically and baring his teeth in an ear-to-ear grin. To add effect, he bumped Tala's hip with his own.

The ridiculousness of the situation made the Russian chuckle. "That's just… not right."

Kon simply smiled. "It made you laugh and most people would rather bed a well-meaning idiot than a conceited asshole." He raised a brow. "Now I am taken by a dream of a man, but good luck with the next guy who catches your eye. If you feel the need for some company, you are welcome to join us." He jabbed a thumb behind his shoulder and then made to walk away.

It took Tala a minute to realize that Ray had not only called him a conceited asshole, and probably an unsatisfying lay, but also schooled him in the subject he mastered. The fact that his surprised nerves had actually opened the door for all that, had him frothing at the mouth.

He turned his back to the now-laughing asshole and bit down on his knuckle in frustration before quickly reminding himself of how imperative it was to fuck this bitch. Telling himself to calm the hell down, he decided to try again.

Opening up his Instagram and losing himself in memes for the next fifteen minutes, he looked up only when he felt sufficiently level-headed again. Quickly, he flagged down the bartender and asked him to whip up a cocktail, something not too fruity but still mild so he didn't feel like Tala was trying to make him get drunk and lower his defenses. Then, he requested a pen and paper, wrote up a little note and the drink was off to be delivered.

As suspected, Kon frowned upon receiving the drink, though his table burst in hoots and laughter, grinning and winking while Tala merely raised a glass to them. Now, he had bet on the Chinese finding it unacceptable to be misunderstood, and so in his note instead of apologizing for his conceited attempt, he had simply apologized for hitting on him altogether, hoping Ray would come up and tell him he got it wrong.

The man shook his head, smiled at the waiter, accepted the drink in a go and zeroed back in on his mates. As Tala clocked in on the erratic tapping his right foot had taken up, he smirked.

A good fifteen minutes later, he was approached by a visibly uncomfortable Ray. Smiling awkwardly, he stood next to Tala and ordered himself a tequila shot, before turning to face him.

"Thanks for the drink and I really wasn't mad at you for hitting on me."

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do and I know. You're mad at me for that weird-ass pick-up line. 'You want to.' Who says that? Definitely not me but believe me or not, I had like a well-rehearsed thing going, then you were just here all of a sudden and I just kind of, forgot?" Tala couldn't help his sheepish smile before realizing this was a good chance to butter him up. "Looking at those eyes up close," he threw a hand behind his head "Just made me lose myself."

As expected, a slight flush came over the tan cheeks and Tala bit back a cheer.

"I wrote that note specifically so you would come and clear it up and I could apologize to you face-to-face. Couldn't find the guts to approach you again."

"Oh, it's just…" Ray trailed off, clearly not used to this approach, before smiling embarrassedly himself. "I over-reacted too. I kinda wanted to hang out with just the gang today and my boyfriend was just being overly possessive. Fought with me for a whole two hours over a night out alone with the guys." Tala bit back a scoff at that. Cheater Bryan projecting his tendencies and insecurities on his poor, new catch? Classic. "Then there was you."

"In the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yes, so I just sort of unloaded on you. I didn't mean to be that harsh."

"Could have fooled me because I was just left here like, 'did that just happen?'. All I wanted was to take you out on a date."

"On a date, you say. To your bed, you mean." Ray was smiling now, with a teasing note in his voice.

"Eventually, but I wanted to do it right. I wasn't looking for a one-night stand." Looking right into those amber eyes, he made his voice sound as sincere as possible and hoped the Chinese would believe him.

Said eyes drew away from his own, shyly and focussed on the shot glass in front of them. "Oh." That was all he said, but he did sound pleased.

"So, am I forgiven?"

Started, Ray looked up. "Oh, yes! There's nothing to forgive. We're good."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Prove it to me."

"… how?"

Tala smirked. "Dance with me." He paused to let Ray make a face before cutting him off. "Just, you know, a dance. I respect your boundaries. I really ain't gonna try any funny shit."

The weirdly holding amber eyes were skittish with hesitation for a second or two before they found his own and a soft smirk made its way on to Ray's face. "Alright then."

…

Strangely enough, waking up alone was easier when he knew exactly where Bryan was. It was even sort of satisfying, knowing his precious new flame was probably screaming at him for his weird, possessive behavior right about now as he tried to drag a hung-over Ray to breakfast since Tala, himself had a text from the bastard saying he was gonna have to catch break-fast with a client.

Tala sat back in bed with a glass of whiskey, scrolling Twitter for headlines. He had always been a heavy drinker, and he had the alcohol tolerance to back it up too. Always had a little too much, but not enough to develop a problem. It really wasn't his fault though, coffee just didn't wake him up like a shot of whiskey did.

Till Bryan came along and everything had to change because of his obsession with healthy lifestyles and all that.

Idly, he searched out Ray Kon on Twitter and was surprised to find a private handle. The man in his Facebook posts seemed to be quite the exhibitionist. He looked him up on Instagram and found another private account with a few followers above a thousand and some four hundred posts. Amused, he moved to hit follow before checking himself. Now that was stalkerish.

Now Tala had no qualms admitting the guy was cute but was he even slightly better than himself? No. So unless Bryan had actually fallen in love, he couldn't see any reasons for what had been done.

Good mood gone, he decided to never look the Chinese up on his social media again.

Stretching his arms above his head, he called Kai's number to see if he was free to do something around town. It was a Saturday and all that. They didn't have anything preplanned, which generally meant it would remain that way since Kai the bossman always had things to do on weekends too, but they all knew he would raise a brow and expressionlessly sulk if he wasn't asked first.

Predictably going to voicemail, Tala took it to mean Kai actually was busy and called up Mariah instead.

She picked up on the seventh or such ring and her shrill scream made it clear she was not happy to receive the call, nor would be willing to hang out. Oh well, plan B then.

"We were just gunning for round three so this better be fucking important Tala!"

"Round three? It's literally eight in the morning. What, you been up all night or what?"

"We're at my brother's."

"That doesn't help!"

"What do you want?!"

"When can we run into Ray Kon?"

A sigh. "What is your obsession with him?" The voice on the other end sounded serious now.

"Bryan is two-timing us, so I am going to sleep with him."

No response came through.

"Hello?"

"Give me a second here, that's a lot to process." She sighed again, and he could almost imagine her pinching her forehead. "Was this Kai's idea?"

"No."

"Uh-huh. Try again."

"How can you be so sure it was?"

"'Cause you on your worst are still not that emotionally stunted. Did you stop to think about the guy at all? Not only is he being cheated on right now, but is going to be used by you in this sick revenge plan of yours and neither of the things is any fault of his whatsoever."

Tala felt misgivings rise in the pit of his stomach at that because it was a fair point, which he squashed with the image of Ray's glowing visage when he called Bryan _his_ dream of a man.

"None of my business."

"Kai lingo."

"What is your problem with him?!"

"This cavalier attitude he takes to everyone else's emotions!" There was an interruption in the background that kept Tala from responding to that. Mariah returned to the phone with understandable haste in her words. "Look Tal, we could talk about this all day but she looks so hot, with all that… naked skin. Can we talk later? Meet up for lunch, maybe?"

"Alright, I will let you go. Only if you promise me to not try to hamper this."

"I have a condition."

"Spit it."

"Not now. The Pizza Square at 1. Don't be late."

….

He wasn't late, she was, but she came in glowing and sporting an impressive network of hickeys on her collarbone so, like the proud friend he was, he let her off the hook.

"So… I thought you said girls like Queen weren't your type."

She sat down in the chair across him with an embarrassed huff. "Well, I was wrong. I can see why people fall for you now, cocky has appeal."

"Wish everybody thought so.", he muttered under his breath but nothing ever escaped Mariah Wong's keen ears, especially not if it was gossip about someone else.

"Do I sense a failed attempt at seduction here? When was it? Last night? I thought it weird you went out on your own." A smirk decorated her beige painted lips as she batted her eyelashes at him, exaggeratedly. He pushed her face away.

"He is just not the type who likes getting picked up in bars, and anyway, I quite appreciate a challenge now and then."

"Oh yeah? That's what they all say when they can't be childishly bitter over their failures." She raised a neatly pencilled brow and he rolled his eyes, almost pouting in indignation while simultaneously flagging down a waitress.

"Look, I will admit I didn't wanna spend so much time fretting about this like my revenge plan doesn't have to be a whole new headache, it's supposed to relieve my frustrations."

Though dancing with him last night had been quite fun. Ray was pretty funny and easy-going, and he was either a complete goof on the dance floor, or had been acting up to get rid of the awkwardness that had flown in between them the moment they found themselves facing each other amidst the throng of dancing bodies. For a second, everybody around them had felt so alive, and they themselves, their entire lives seemed so insignificant in the face of the vibe, that they just gazed unsurely at each other before Kon had grabbed on to his hand and did a weird combination of a pirouette, squat and leg-lift that Tala would laugh about to his dying day. The only thing that had saved him from landing on his butt was Tala holding on to him, for which he'd grinned at him gratefully and all stiffness had escaped the redhead's posture.

Also, it was fun knowing he was who Bryan was afraid of losing Ray to, in a sense. That he was a threat, even if nobody else saw it that way. Yet.

They had parted after the dance, Ray returned to his table and after fifteen minutes of hanging around and pretending to chat up a blonde in another corner, Tala had left. It was nice, all in all, if not exactly what he wanted it to be.

He wasn't going to tell Mariah that, though.

"Alright, so I will let you see Ray, on one condition." They resumed the conversation after ordering their choice of pizza, which they had bickered over for a full fifteen minutes.

"Which is?"

"He won't find out what you did. You won't tell him you used him and make him feel any worse than necessary when he inevitably finds out about the hoax his relationship has been. I don't know how you will handle Bryan, but Ray won't have to feel like a pawn in this weird game of yours."

Tala plastered his most sincere calculating look on his face, and he was a bloody good actor, as he pretended to think about it. Of course, he wasn't going to agree with her demand. It was imperative Bryan saw the pain he had caused Ray in those expressive amber eyes and mirror it right back. He wanted to leave the two in a mess where they won't know who to point fingers at and who to blame. Ray would have to find out once he himself cheated on Bryan with Tala, but Mariah didn't need to know that.

"Sounds fair."

Her face brightened and for a moment he felt bad.

Pulling out his phone, he nodded while texting Kai to not talk to Mariah at all till he had called him and explained the elaborate lie they would have to keep up.

"Why are you so possessive of him anyway?"

"He is a nice guy." She shrugged evasively and Tala narrowed his eyes.

"He is your straight crush?"

"I am not straight."

"Then?"

She sat back in her seat with a sigh and waited for the server to serve them their slices of pizza before continuing. "I lied. He and Lee weren't just friends."

"He's Lee's crush?"

"No, Tala. They used to date and remember how I once told you if I could help it I would never let anyone date Lee despite him being my brother?"

"Yeah?"

"So this was the reason. It was horrible and Lee hurt Ray a lot. I know how much strength it must have taken for him to give someone a chance again and I'd hate to see you shit on that."

"I am not shitting on anything! It's not…-"

"Your fault Bryan's a cheater? Exactly. Not his either but he has to get out of this and that's the only reason I am helping you here."

Oh man, he didn't need to feel guilty before he had done anything to feel guilty about.

**Well, that's it for the first chapter. Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two :)**

Mariah, being a mutual, had still not been in contact with Ray for well over two years and it was weird to just throw a thing and invite him, especially given his history with Lee. So while she asked for time to figure something out, Tala took things into his own hands.

He strolled into the dog shelter hoping Ray was on duty that Monday. His profile gave no information about his working hours, but he hadn't checked in any events or places on a Monday for the past three months so this was Tala's best bet.

He was directed first to the office, where an elegant looking blonde woman called Judy inquired about his financial status and ability to support a rescue pup. He answered all her questions, told her he didn't have a specific breed in mind but that he wanted a pup because he already had a baby husky home. She led him outside to the yard which was neatly divided into several portions, all currently unoccupied except for a litter of cats in one corner and told him to wait as she headed off to the sheds. Hoping and praying that she would bring Ray (knowing it was a far cry and she could get literally any of the workers out there) to help him instead of struggling with the puppies herself in her skirt and blouse, he waited for her to show up.

His prayers were answered because soon enough the woman emerged with the Chinese following in tow, his long hair bunched up into a man bun on top of his head and his brow glistening with a sheen of sweat.

"Oh, hey!", he called out as soon as he saw Tala and the redhead smiled.

"Hi again." He was surprised to find he didn't have to force himself to seem happy in the face of the Chinese's bright grin.

"Oh, you seem to know each other. That's good. I will leave you to it, then?" She directed the question at Tala himself, to which he easily assented. After she left, he turned to Kon again, who gestured for him to follow.

"Ray."

"What?"

"That's my name. Can't believe we danced and never asked for each other's names."

That's because he already knew both of them. "Oh yeah, I am Tala, Tala Ivanov."

"Russian?" The amber eyes found his and Tala saw that under the sun, they weren't amber but quite a clear shade of pure gold. Ray held the door open for Tala and he walked in, nodding, taken a bit by surprise at the unbidden thoughts of appreciation that rose through him for those unique, wondrous orbs.

"My boyfriend's Russian too. Oh man, you must feel like he's all I ever talk about but you just remind me of him somehow." He said sheepishly as he closed the door behind himself and smiled up at Tala again. Looking around, the redhead found himself surrounded by sizeable playpens, about thirteen, all containing puppies till about two years. "This is where we keep the puppies, separate you know because the older ones can get a little rough at times." Ray explained as a Doberman pup ran out of his pen and towards him. It was missing an eye. Absently, the Chinese stroked it.

"Um… can you suggest which one of them I should consider, because I already have a husky puppy at home."

"Ugh."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

"My boyfriend has a husky pup too."

"Similar enough you could confuse me for him some nights."

"Tala!"

"Kidding. So?"

"I think you should pick one of similar size and energy. Huskies aren't temperamental though, they usually work well with all breeds but I recommend Kash here for one,", he gestured at the dob. Tala bent down to scratch him behind the ear a little. "Or Fenrir. I think Fenrir is your best bet."

"Fenrir?"

"A German shepherd who joined us a month ago. His previous owners were dog abusers."

"That's awful." Tala's eyes followed Ray's directions and found a lonely looking German shepherd pup sitting isolated in the pen placed farthest away from the rest. There were two golden retrievers playing close by it, except it paid them no mind.

"He has been traumatised. He is such a gentle soul, he doesn't hurt anyone but he no longer bonds with humans. It took me two weeks to get him to respond to me. He is not hostile, just wary so you will have to deal with moodiness, except I think another puppy and loving home is exactly what he needs right now."

Experimentally, Tala moved towards the puppy, stroking any of the joyful fur balls who came up to him on the way. He called out to the pup in a soft voice and while it turned its head made no further moves to come closer.

Tala knelt next to him and reached out to stroke his fur. The dog didn't resist at all but didn't seem any happier to have attention like any of the other puppers.

Ray was right, Fenrir desperately needed a loving family. Carefully picking the dog up, making sure not to startle it, Tala carried it over to his black-haired 'friend' who was watching him with a soft smile and compassionate eyes, like seeing Fenrir cuddled in the arms of someone was all he wanted from life.

"I will take him."

The smile widened. "That's amazing. Do you want me to carry him while you get the paperwork done?"

Feeling a weird possessive streak coming over him, he stepped back from Ray, almost as if the Chinese would try to steal Fenrir away from him too. "No, I am okay. Accompany us, though?" He said to soften the blow. Ray continued looking happy, as if Tala being protective of Fenrir was the joy of his life. Shamefully, the redhead admitted it to himself, that it probably was.

"Sure."

They headed to Judy's office in silence after Ray patted his posse of four-legged fans on their heads each and deposited the hobbling Labrador with a bandaged leg into its pen. The entire time, Fenrir's eyes were stuck on Ray and despite being in Tala's arms, it didn't look at the redhead once.

Worriedly, he registered that Ray was probably the first human the dog must have bonded with after being rescued and was suddenly unsure if it should be taken away from him so soon. He hesitated outside Judy's office, thinking maybe he should go back and get the Doberman after all.

"What's wrong?", Ray questioned. "Second thoughts?" He looked almost scared.

"I was just wondering if it would be okay to take him away from you so soon. It seems like it'd be scary for him to adjust to a new life all over."

Ray sighed. "I wish I could keep all of the animals in here with me forever, the dogs, the cats, all of them but I really can't. It's not ideal. They need families and proper homes. He will adjust, Tala. I am sure you will be good to him and a husky and a German shepherd would be really compatible together. He needs that. Look, if you feel it's necessary, just call me, okay? I will come over on an off day and play with him for a while. Sounds good?"

Later he'd register how this was a hoard of opportunities, right now he could only focus on how much Fenrir would probably need that.

Feeling better, Tala went ahead with the adoption, exchanged numbers with Ray and settling the dog into Frost's dog seat, drove off to buy him millions of calcium bones and chew toys.

…

He had never really acknowledged what a spirited, friendly blessing of a canine his husky was because in three hours it had coaxed the shy newcomer into running around, exploring the house. He liked to think his own constant patting, treats and soft coos were helping and he was super delighted with that.

So when Bryan returned to the sight of not one, but two dogs playing tug with the sofa covers, his surprised amusement was to be expected.

"Looking after someone's dog today, are we?" The purple-haired man reached out to stroke the shepherd, who stood stock-still and wary of the human.

"No, meet the newest addition to the family, Fenrir Ivanov."

Bryan rolled his eyes at that. "I will never understand why you give dogs your surname. Fenrir Ivanov, Frost Ivanov! Impulse buy?"

"They are my sons, that's why. Kind of, I just felt like visiting Good Will shelter and I found him there." The name just slipped out but he was glad to see the tightening of Bryan's lips.

"Oh."

"He was abused though, so don't take it to heart if he is a little wary. It took us three hours and undivided attention to get him moving at all."

That's when a mammoth of a brainwave hit him. This was his chance of making sure Ray won't mention him to Bryan, ever.

"Know who else I found?"

Bryan, looking positively uninterested (read: nervous), looked up at that. Staring into his bright eyes, Tala was surprised to see for the first time in the past two and a half years, he felt nothing but a need to make them cower and hesitate to meet his own.

"Who?"

"A dream of a man." Tala almost scoffed at Bryan, hoping he would recognize the phrase as one Ray frequently used if he did. Even if he didn't the knowledge that those were the exact same words, Bryan's other boyfriend used to describe Bryan gave him serious kicks. "A Chinese lad. Didn't get the chance to ask for his name but I'd be lying if I said I would mind having him all hot and sweaty, writhing beneath me."

Bryan's face was a confusion of expressions, relief, lust, fear and a million things in between he couldn't hide from Tala's seasoned eyes.

"Won't dare mention it to him though, the sort of person he seemed to be, he'd hate sleeping with a committed man, you know."

The expressions settled and guilt pre-dominated. This time it didn't hurt Tala to see Bryan won't bat an eye about cheating on _him_, but when it came to his precious baby, he wore beaten down looks like those.

"Well, I'd still definitely try to tap that if I ever have reason to go back in. For the sake of our relationship, I'd only try to invite him to our bed when both of us are in it. Would hate cheating on you, babe." He paused to let Bryan collect his thoughts and settle his emotions. He looked close to bursting. "You should come with me next time, Bry. If our joint charm doesn't crack him, I don't know what will."

"He might not be gay. Considered that?"

"Oh, but he is. Was checking out my ass the entire time I was there."

Nobody said a word for over a minute. Frost played on with its bird toy in the corner, but Fenrir was staring right at where the two men stood chest-to-chest, probably used to sensing tensions between owners.

"Why are you looking so angry, Bryan? Shouldn't you be proud that even after two years of a committed relationship, I haven't let myself go at all, and that people still find me hot?"

"Well, stay away from him Tala. You are mine, okay?"

"Why? Jealous? You never were before, when we invited a third person to our bed."

"I am not, it's just, it's been a long day today. I am kind of tired. I will be in the room. Don't worry about cooking something for me." A piss-poor excuse, a shitty delivery but to keep his cover intact Tala let Bryan believe he had convinced him and kissed him goodnight a lot more joyfully than he thought he ever would be able to, after finding out about his affair.

…

He gave it three days, enough time for Bryan to have tried to tighten his hold on Ray out of insecurity and entered subsequent fights about it, before texting the Chinese one afternoon.

'Hi. Tala here. Just checking in to tell you the pupper is having the time of his life and absolutely adores me. Don't wanna sound too full of myself but I am lowkey proud haha.' He attached a picture of both Frost and Fenrir tussling in a corner, before hastily deleting it, fearing Ray might recognize Frost, and uploading one of just Fenrir.

His phones pinged five minutes later. 'That's so nice to see! I have never seen him look so lively before. I am lowkey proud of you too.'

Tala was still debating his reply when Ray sent him a picture of a visibly malnourished Maine coon. For all of the breed's regal image, the feline in the picture looked frightened and ready to flee from whoever's lap it was currently perched on.

Tala bit his lip in anger at the text that came next. 'Another case of animal abuse. Smh. Just finished feeding and putting her to sleep.'

'I hope she finds a good home and that her previous owners be pooped on by pigeons every day for the rest of their lives.'

'You never fail to make me laugh. God knows, it's welcome right now.'

'Stressed?'

'Like you won't believe.'

'I have an idea.'

'How so?'

'Ten bucks says its the mister.'

'How'd you know?'

'You haven't mentioned him once and it's already been five minutes into the conversation. Very un-Ray like.'

He ignored the jibe. 'He is driving me right up the fucking wall. I shouldn't be telling you this Tala but honestly, I don't know who else to talk to. My friends literally worship him and my mother doesn't even know I am gay!'

'Vent away, kitten. What, he not taking well to you having found his emotional doppelgänger?'

'I haven't mentioned you to him.' A satisfied smile made its way onto Tala's lips.

'Why? Guilty conscience? Decided the doppelgänger is better after all?'

':/'

'Jk. Tell me, why.'

'It's too much to text.'

'Are you deflecting or asking me out on a date?'

'Neither, both, I don't know. I want to see you again. Not in the date sense obviously, just to hang out.' Another text quickly followed. 'If you're not too busy that is?'

'I am free as a bird, all the time. And stop harping on, I know its not a date. Two friends can hang out sometimes.'

'We have met twice and we're friends?' Tala's brows furrowed at the text and irritation bobbed up in his throat.

'Aren't we?' He quickly replied.

'I hope we are.', Ray messaged. A pause and then another message flew in. 'What do you do for a living that lets you be free as a bird, all the time?'

'I am a free-lancing fashion designer. I sell my designs to other brands and labels. Work from home, basically.'

'Well, I suppose you are pretty stylish.'

'Well, thank you. So, about that hanging out, free tonight?'

…

As a fashion designer, Tala knew how popular red was, and how few people could actually pull it off, so he was surprised to see how good Ray looked in his red half-sleeved button down. It was definitely his color.

"Hi." The Chinese sighed before plopping down in the booth, across the table in front of Tala. He looked Tala's own ensemble over and even ducked under the table to get a good look at his shoes and rose with a grin. "Well, can't say I can't see the fashion designer."

"Cheers." Tala smiled. "Do you want to order first?"

They flagged down the waiter, and quickly placed their orders, Ray asking for manchurian and fried rice while Tala got himself an entire Chinese combo meal. He had strategically picked out this place on a wild hunch, Ray might feel more at ease in an environment he could relate with and as he watched the Asian interestedly read the decorative Chinese scrolls hanging on the walls, he applauded himself.

"So, trouble in paradise." Tala rose a brow and quite comically, Ray groaned and put his head to the table.

"It's so weird. He's gotten so possessive. Asked me to quit my job, you know? Or look for one in a different locality. Apparently, this one isn't safe enough. Lord knows what convinced him of that."

Taking a sip of his water, Tala pretended to think. "Have there been any incidents around the shelter lately?"

"None whatsoever! He just called me that day you came to get Fen and ranted half an hour about how we didn't need the money I was making. Like that's even the issue here!"

Tala frowned. "Don't need the money you are making?"

"I am an artist. I have been selling my paintings under a pseudonym for years now, and they fetch me a decent amount. I also work as a part-time illustrator for the kids' segment of this publishing house. A lot of work from home like you. I only work at the shelter on Mondays and Fridays, and just 10-5 at that."

"Oh, I see. Then you really do not need the money from the shelter job."

Ray's cool hand smacked his own and he felt the need to reach out and grasp it. "That's not the point! He keeps giving me weird stink eyes these days whenever he visits! For the past three days, we haven't had one civil conversation, other than him ranting and raving about me spending no time with him when it's he who comes and goes as he pleases." His distressed face fell. "He even went so far as to insinuate I don't see him on purpose because I am busy scoping other people when I am out."

Tala scowled. That was exactly what he wanted, but he wished he didn't have to look at Ray's face while listening to all that. He wanted to punch Bryan, even though he had made him do exactly all of this.

Except, he had a mission to focus on. "Wait, did you say visits? You don't live together?"

Ray's features hardened into a scowl mirroring his own. "Live together? I haven't even visited his home once! Haven't met his parents yet or any of his friends! It's been eight months and from the beginning, I knew he had secrets, so do I and I was cool with that. But lately, all we seem to do is fight, like I am the one keeping my entire life hidden from him! It's so weird. He screams at me for hanging out with my friends, then comes apologizing in the morning and treats me to breakfast. Come Monday, he is bitching at me to quit my job but takes me out to an art gallery the next Tuesday, and proceeds to say it to my face that I only work at the shelter to satisfy my urges to ogle other men. How does this make any sense?" The golden eyes were starting to glaze over and riding high on something quite unfamiliar churning in his gut, he put his hand on the tan one, covering it fully.

"It's all so stressful. He doesn't even know I am here right now. He was busy buying some new machines to set up his gym with. He's looking to open one."

Tala knew.

Unmindful of his movements, Ray twisted his hand and laced his fingers through Tala's.

"I don't know what to think. I have never given him a reason to doubt me so it fucking hurts when he suggests I am a slut in a room full of people I don't even know. All of them were looking at me like I am dirt. Almost makes me wish I had taken you up on your offer. I would have a reason to be feeling so bad, then."

Surprisingly, the admission brought Tala no joy.

"Ray…" he couldn't continue because the server arrived with their food, taking them both by surprise. The man caught sight of their entwined hands and gave a slightly embarrassed smile. Ray quickly pulled his hand back, and Tala was infinitely glad the Chinese man didn't look up just then because he wasn't proud of the expression he had worn for a second there.

In his haste to leave, the waiter put the rice and manchurian in front of him and the combo meal in front of Ray before bustling away. Absently, the guy picked up a dimsum and bit right into it without waiting for it to cool, burning his tongue in the process. As he cringed and started sucking in air with wide eyes, Tala couldn't help but chuckle. Even that didn't alert Ray to the fact that he had started gobbling Tala's meal.

Too amused to stop him, Tala dug into Ray's. Swallowing a spoonful of rice, he said, "Well hey, the offer hasn't expired." He smirked a little before dramatically laying a hand on his heart. "For you, I might be willing to break my heart too. I will be your little fling and leave it at that, forever yearning for your love from the shadows of the friend zone."

Ray chuckled, his eyes glancing back up at Tala, and he shook his head. "You're incorrigible."

"You're just beautiful." He argued back, teasingly and had the pleasure of watching Ray's eyes brighten a little. Containing his grin with difficulty, he forced himself to sound more solemn. "On a serious note, I hope he gets his shit together. Only a buffoon of a man won't realize what a great catch you are." He meant it, and he himself was no buffoon.

With a sweet smile, Ray went back to his food. They were silent for a good fifteen minutes and Tala was happy to find it wasn't awkward at all and he didn't have to be fishing for subjects to talk about. All of a sudden, Ray burst out again, though Tala was relieved to see his voice no longer shook and he was more annoyed than sad. "I just think it's funny, you know, how he comes and goes, is never a constant in my life, does whatever he wants but when it comes to me, he has to regulate every part of my life. Does he think he bloody owns me? Doesn't he know a relationship takes two?"

A slight huff of laughter escaped Tala and golden eyes were immediately narrowed on him in silent demand. He had to admit, they were pretty forceful like that. Somewhat distractedly, he wondered how they'd look hazed with overpowering lust, tearing at the corners, dark and sinful. Well, there was another solid reason to bed this guy.

"Nothing."

"Tell me, Tala."

"Just how every time, whatever follows 'I just think it's funny' is rarely ever funny."

"Yeah, that's not it."

"Really!"

Ray was unconvinced but dropped it and quickly reverted to his earlier thread of conversation. "You know there was actually a time he remained TMI for a whole week over the summer? He just never showed up. Didn't take my calls, just texted he was fine and I shouldn't worry. He was out of state helping his oldest client set up his personal gym. I trusted him, I still do. My only problem is that he can't afford me the same courtesy." Tala knew very well what Ray was talking about. He and Bryan had been vacationing in the Bahamas then, and it was a whole three weeks, which meant Ray was knowingly downplaying the situation.

"Why stay with him, then?"

Ray paused and looked up at him. His face was a stony mask, and Tala could read nothing from it. "I love him, he loves me."

"Oh, it's pretty clear you love him." Tala waved a hand in the air. "But if he acts so flaky all the time how can you be sure he loves you too?"

Something flashed across those exotic golden eyes, so quick Tala's mouth dropped open, and though the look disappeared quicker than it took to appear it left Tala's heart beating desperately in pain. Very hesitantly, almost as if he was fighting himself to say it, Ray whispered, "He waits for me."

"What? I mean, in what sense? Does that mean you haven't…" He paused. "Are you a virgin, Ray?"

Ray could no longer look him in the eyes. "Oh I am not a virgin, there was a time promiscuous was a respectful word in relation to me."

"I don't understand."

Ray scoffed, there was no humour to it and Tala immediately decided he hated it. "I haven't even allowed him to take the shirt off of my back."

So that's why Bryan hadn't broken up with him yet. He kept Tala around for sex.

"Why?"

"Why? Oh, I don't really know. Except I do, but I don't know how to word it. I am fond of sex, Tala and I am very comfortable in my body, to the extent that it becomes kinda shameful…-"

"Yeah, that's what society wants you to think. It's not shameful to have a high sex drive."

Ray bit his plump lower lip, his full, soft-looking, pinkish lips. He didn't say a word but looked way more upset than what he had minutes ago when he was so bloody close to tears. With a sigh, Tala slid out from his side of the booth and moved over to sit beside the Chinese. Somewhat unsurely, he put his arm around the broad, but sagging shoulders. Somewhat unsure himself, Ray cuddled closer to the redhead, laying his head on his taller shoulder. They fit so easily, something that never happened with Bryan because he and Tala were both the same height.

"I lost my virginity when I was fourteen really, to someone in school I was crazy behind. It was fairy-tale perfect Tala. We had that soft, innocent puppy dog love and I know it in my bones we could have made it work. You might be thinking I was a kid, and I won't have known but I do know. I know we were perfect for each other, except a month after we first slept together, his family was in an accident. Five people in a car and two in another, not a single one survived."

For Ray's sake, Tala kept his expression regulated.

"It was awful and I was devastated. I was just fourteen, I didn't even know how to deal with it, couldn't even tell anyone cause I hadn't come out. Four, four years after that and it had just been a string of random affairs. Just sex, a lot of sex but I felt nothing and that numbness has its own bite only someone who has felt it can explain. Till I met Lee Wong."

Mariah's brother.

"Lee was everything I was looking for in a man, and he was so much like _him. _Liked the same food and games and colors and music and me! Lee liked me, touched me just like how he used to. That was all on the surface though. It didn't even drag for too long, but it sure made a right mess out of me. I was in love with Lee, met him through some mutuals and fell so quick it was pathetic.

"I told him, I told him I loved him as soon as I realised and he told me he wasn't ready for a relationship, that he was confused and that he liked me but he wanted to build a future for himself before he got together with anyone. I told him I'd wait. In the meantime, he treated me so well. We hung out all the time and we discussed what our future would look like together. He was almost a boyfriend, and I kept myself unattached the same way. There was the cute jealousy and the late-night conversations. I was happy.

"Till he kissed me and normally I'd be okay with it but that day I just flipped. He wanted no tags, but he wanted to make out? He won't date me, but I couldn't date anyone else either. Talked to me about marrying me and won't even acknowledge me in front of certain groups of people. It felt like he was ashamed of me through and through.

"I cried a lot and then he said sorry and asked me out. Told me I was the best thing in his world but still won't tell anyone else about me. Then we had sex and it just became clear to me. He did nothing wrong but we were sitting there and he was offering me fruits and I just knew, I could see it in his eyes that he didn't love me. He didn't give a shit about me.

"It just went downhill from there. A week later I found out the shit he had been saying about me, that he could never date a 'loose one' like me, that he had standards, that I was a slut who tried to seduce him with nudes and all that good stuff. For nights after finding out, my skin itched in every spot he ever touched me and I wanted to tear it all off.

"When I confronted him, he called me a liar to my face, said nothing ever happened between us, that we were never together and that he won't dirty himself by touching my whore skin. It sucked. That was around when I joined the shelter. Those dogs helped me more than anyone else did.

"Bryan is my first relationship after that and I just want it to be perfect but the first time we tried to do it, it got so bad. He was kissing down my chest and all of it just flashed in front of my eyes, all the names Lee had called me and how everyone at school believed him… just how bad they made me feel and I panicked and started crying. Bryan was shocked for a few seconds till he just wrapped himself around me and rocked me to sleep. In the morning, we talked about this and he got on his knees and swore he didn't think that way of me. He made me promise I won't either. He also told me he'd wait for whenever I was ready.

"This was a whole six months ago and I am still not. I am not ready and he's never tried to pressure me or even make out for any longer than I am generally comfortable with. You tell me if it isn't for love, then what?"

Tala, who had been dead quiet through it all, still had nothing to say. Those pitiful golden eyes beseeched his, were probably looking for reassurances but the redhead was lost. He didn't understand anything and despite his clear sight of Bryan's motives and the fact that though that bastard really liked Ray, he probably didn't love him, Tala couldn't bring himself to open his mouth and breathe a word to Ray. He found himself wishing Bryan would just end things with him and commit to the man tucked under his chin, just put him out of more hurt's way.

He tightened his hold around the shorter man's shoulders and placed his own head on top of his, more to escape his eyes than for contact. Breathing in through his mouth, he drawled, "I don't know what to say to that, kitten."

A sniffle, which was pretty funny when it was made in that deep, manly tone, "Why do you call me that?"

"I don't know what else to call you."

"A saber-tooth tiger."

"Quite a mouthful."

"Like you're quite a handful."

"That's a very dumb comeback."

"I know I am sorry."

Smiling, Tala almost pressed his lips into the raven hair before stopping himself and reaching over to the rapidly cooling dimsums. He held one up to Ray's mouth.

The Chinese man pulled away from him and stared at the offering, before muttering, "That was yours, I am so sorry." And swooping to gulp it down anyway.

"That's alright. I wasn't hungry anyway." Tala smiled down at him and that was all the encouragement Ray needed to wolf down his combo, and then the rice and manchurian as the two sat in silence for the rest of the meal.

When he was done, Tala spoke again. "So…" or trailed off, so to speak.

Ray turned towards him and raised a brow. They were still sitting pretty close together, their knees touching and Tala wondered if Ray just hadn't noticed or didn't care anymore. He hoped it was the latter.

"Fenrir's been amazing, but you know what I think would help him?"

A grin unfurled across Ray's features and instantly it became clear that indeed, he did know. "No, I have no idea whatsoever. Tell me?"

"He needs to see familiar faces around. Sometimes he seems dazed you know. I think he is missing the first man he bonded with after escaping that nightmare."

"Oh?"

"Come on, I am not even fixing a date. Whenever you next have a spat with Bryan, or life in general fucks with you, come meet me and Fen. I will make you laugh, and even buy you ice cream."

"Well, you had me at 'meet Fen' and solidified the blow with 'ice cream'."

"Alright then."

When they parted, they parted with a prolonged hug, in which Ray just sort of completely folded himself into Tala's arms. He had never felt so pleasantly crowded in his entire life. It was quite a paradoxical reaction, and the Russian filed it away to analyze on a lonely night when his arms won't be full of a shorter, darker, minty-smelling man who seemed very reluctant to let him go.

…

**Another huge thanks to Katya92 for helping me out whenever I struck a rut and keeping me going with her genuine appreciation for this.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Just trying to quickly get this done so I can move on to the others and get them done too. Also, a pretty dark lemon ahead. Proceed with caution**

That night when Tala reached home, Bryan was sprawled across the couch with both their puppies dozing on his stomach. No, they weren't _their_ puppies, they were Tala's, and it wasn't _home,_ it was Bryan's house and never before had he felt it so acutely in his bones.

He stepped closer and watched their revolving side table lamp spill colorful lights across the fair face of his boyfriend, trying to feel something, anything. He couldn't even find it within himself to hate the man, far less love him. Living with him even after finding out the truth must have done that. He didn't know why he was numb, now. The anger that had cooled and solidified in the pit of his belly was nowhere to be found and he gazed upon the smooth porcelain skin with a clinical fascination he had never associated with Bryan before.

As he turned to move away, a hand tightened around his wrist in a vice-like grip.

"Where were you?"

He wondered if this was how he treated Ray. He didn't love the idea.

"I grabbed dinner with Mariah today."

"Uh-huh. She told me you were with her when I called her to ask. Except that's exactly what Kai said when I called him too. Which brings me back to my first question. Where were you?"

Tala whirled around to face Bryan, who was sitting up, with Frost and Fenrir now asleep on the sofa. He opened his mouth, then realized he had nothing to say so closed it again. Seeing that he would need to bullshit his way out of this one, and not wanting for their voices to raise and startle Fenrir who was only starting to get comfortable, he jerked his head in the direction of the bedroom and allowed a scowling Bryan to pull him inside.

Once the door was secure behind them, he pulled his wrist out of Bryan's hold and crossed his arms. "So I fancied a drink alone. What'ds the big deal?"

Bryan's eyes bulged out to comical proportions as he threw his arms out. "You fancied a drink?! You fancied a fucking drink?!" He shook his head in exaggerated disbelief and Tala rolled his eyes. "Well, did the entry pass to whichever club you were in also required you to be shady about fancying that drink cause you could have just told me!"

"I would have if I knew you were gonna blow up like that! That's the entire reason I told you I was with Mariah!" He screamed a little louder than he wanted to.

"NO! The only reason you said you were with her is you don't want me to know where you really were!" Bryan was absolutely livid now and Tala really couldn't recall when his boiling point was met and passed, and the redhead wanted to laugh.

"When have I even once, in our past two years together, given you reason to doubt me, Bryan?! Why can't you just trust me here?!"

"Because you have never disappeared on me like that, never lied to me like that and it's making my head spin why you'd need to, now!"

That made Tala shut up in a bitter moment of realization. What the fuck was he doing?! Millions of people got cheated on and whoever did this?! Why couldn't he just break a car and get on with it?! He should have just left Bryan instead of dragging Ray into this stupid plan which he could clearly foretell wasn't going to please him any.

Bryan growled in his throat and pushed Tala against the wall roughly. "You reek of guilt, bitch."

Hold the fuck up.

He reeked of guilt?! When all he had done the entire evening was be there for Bryan's bloody boyfriend, playing Bryan's bloody role! The bastard couldn't even cheat properly and he had the nerve to be tearing into Tala like he was the one out there two-timing! Where did this crazy fuck get all these shamelessness? Did they sell it out in the market? Was he the only one who hadn't received the fucking memo and decided to stick with being faithful instead?!

Roughly, he shoved Bryan away. "I DID NOT cheat on you, NEVER have and NEVER would if everything magically goes right. Where is all this coming from Bryan? Cause from where I am standing, it looks like you are just projecting your own motherfucking guilt on to me!

"Get away with your half-baked suspicions and this controlling behavior! You are gonna let everything slip away from you if you don't get a grip right now!" He could no longer tell if he was talking in regard to himself or Ray.

The nerves that acted up only added to the elder's rage, and he grabbed a fistful of the red hair and tugged on it, hard. Stepping threateningly close to Tala, he whispered, seething, "Where. Were. You?"

Wincing, the cerulean eyes teared up as he gazed at his boyfriend, (ex-boyfriend? Cheating nightmare? Roommate? Yes, roommate) his skull throbbing in pain as the fist kept twisting around and shaking his head hurtfully. "You will not believe a word I say till I confess to sucking some random guy's face in a dingy alley behind a stupid bar, and I am not going to lie to you like that."

With a huff of anger, Bryan let go of him. Big mistake, the moment he did, Tala pounced. Pushing him back down onto the floor, his hand tightened around his throat. Bryan's eyes widened in fear as Tala applied pressure while pulling back his left to backhand Bryan across the face. Hard.

He could feel Bryan writhing underneath him, hands clumsily changing track between trying to pry his hand off and pushing his torso back, but there were tears slipping out of their eyes now and they knew they weren't going to turn back that night.

That face, those features, so familiar… two years… two fucking years with this man who had cheated on him and then accused him of doing it… and all Tala could think of was how he had made Ray cry.

Ray… fucking Ray… fucking Ray with his sharp canines and love for animals… his long-ass hair and that smile, that godforsaken smile… that smile this bastard had taken away from him.

He couldn't even tell who he was angry at anymore, Bryan, Ray or himself.

He was taken by surprise though when Bryan's hand pinched his side. He yelped, and the man underneath took that opportunity to grab the back of his neck and crash their lips together. Their teeth clashed together painfully, and he was pretty sure Bryan sliced his offending lip against Tala's teeth.

More prominently, he felt Bryan's hard cock against his hip and he couldn't help smirking.

Pulling himself away, he sat up again, grinding his pelvis down onto the other's hips. "You really like this, don't you? You like being humiliated like this?" Bryan kept his mouth stubbornly closed, but his fingers had found Tala's waist and were currently digging into it. As expected, a thin trail of blood went front his lower lip and lead to just above his chin. "Is that why you kept pushing me? Waiting for me to push back so you could satisfy your sick perversions? Oh, I will humiliate you all right." Reaching up, he grabbed a fistful of the faint lavender strands before pulling Bryan's head as far back as it would go, giving himself ample space to suck on his neck. Latching on to the front of his throat, he wiggled himself a little farther back on Bryan's hips so that the older man's wandering hands could find space to undo Tala's jean buttons.

Just as Bryan's hasty fingers reached into his pants, he pulled back, then with immense effort, drew himself completely away from him. Looking him hard into the eyes, "Strip."

The older man stood up with a smirk, clearly hoping to put on show but Tala turned his back on him. There was a surprised halt in movements, and then the slap of a belt buckle and Tala chuckled before reaching into his bedside drawer.

When Tala turned back to Bryan, he was naked, rock-hard abs and tight thigh muscles displayed to the redhead's sight. His bright eyes were staring weirdly at the object in Tala's hand.

They had never needed to collar their dogs, they were small so they avoided collars at home and the two always traveled around in Tala's arms when they weren't out for walks. The redhead now held out the similarly red collar they had first bought for Frost to Bryan and he, still clueless, smirked wider and obediently fastened it around his neck, the vibrant red clashing beautifully with the pale skin of his untanned torso.

As he fiddled with the strap, the redhead produced another device he had secretly bought and never used before. He chucked the mini cock shaped butt plug at Bryan, who caught it and stared at him in confusion. "Put that in. I don't care if you use lube, or not but I am not gonna prepare you for shit later. I am waiting in the car. You get three minutes, I don't mind if your ass is on fire by the time you are down there, but if you take a second more Bryan, you will pay and you will not enjoy it."

He stalked off to the door, leaving a visibly stunned man in his wake. Never stopping, he called over his shoulder, "And if you dare to cover up, god help you."

As soon as he was out of Bryan's sight, he ran a feverish and trembling hand through his hair. God, did the sight of that man naked and collared do _things _to him but he had to hold out. He had to show him for real, show him how Ray would never be able to fuck him like that, like how he secretly wanted to be taken.

Leaving, he stopped for his coat, keys, and Fenrir's leash. He didn't bother with Bryan's coat, he won't need it. Humiliation didn't have shit to do with modesty.

Bryan was in their doorway, in record time, before his three minutes were up, slightly shivering and obviously limping. He was hurt, that was good. Tala honked the horn, he had moved the car from the driveway across the street after making sure there was no-one out and about. They couldn't afford to be seen doing this by the neighbours after all but Bryan would have to cross the street to get to him and he could already see the elder's hesitation.

He blasted the horn twice more, almost as if threatening to wake up the neighborhood with it and the bastard finally got the idea, leaving the porch of their house and crossing the lawn to the front gate, his raging hard-on swinging in front of him. Desperate for some release, Tala freed and gave himself a couple of hard pumps before taking his hand off his dick. Gods knew the idea of what he was going to do to Bryan, coupled with the image of the aforementioned streaking across the street naked was bad enough as it was.

Quickly yanking the door open, Bryan got in, rubbing his biceps a little and wincing as his ass sank into the seat. His eyes immediately found Tala's member, and he automatically made to touch it but the redhead was having none of that as he grabbed, twisted and shoved the arm away. He was in charge here besides, Bryan touching him just then would make him explode.

He started the car without a word and tried to come up with something derogatory to throw at his partner's dick, except they'd all be lies. Their sex life had been pretty active and downright amazing, saying otherwise would not be believable.

So he pulled into town.

Bryan's eyes widened and from his peripheral vision, Tala saw his thin lips part. Cerulean eyes whipped towards him and glared, making him shut up. A satisfied smirk found its way on to Tala's lips. He was mostly the one receiving, and the power this gave him made him feel like he could pretty much rule the world.

He pulled up to a small stationery store first.

He knew the man who worked there, had slept with him a few years ago. Honking the horn, he rolled down the window, immediately catching the attention of said person, Spencer he believed, the dude's name was. Pretty big in build, completely submissive in bed.

Spencer grinned as he saw Tala and he motioned for him to walk over. Inside the car, Bryan's shivering hand grasped Tala's thigh and the redhead let out a sigh of relief. He wanted to humiliate Bryan alright, he was angry at him but he would never do something the other was not okay with. So it was good to register the shivering, for his roommate only ever shivered in arousal.

As the blonde giant walked over to them, Tala smirked. He could bet his ass that presented with the naked body in the car, Spencer would never notice his own aching dick. He heard Bryan's breath catch in his throat as the stranger's eyes raked over him. Spencer blushed a deep red and hastily tore his eyes away to find Tala's.

"That's alright Spence, you can look." He reached out to fist Bryan's leaking cock for the first time that night and Spencer's green eyes uncontrollably followed. "You can even touch if you want."

Spencer blinked once, twice and then tore his eyes away again. "No, no it's fine. Did you need something?"

"Yes, a black marker please." Tala held up the money needed, or to be specific quite a bit more than the money needed. Spencer hastily tore it out of his hand and rushed into the shop, a visible tent forming in his own pants.

While he was gone, Bryan relaxed his hold on the jean-clad thigh and Tala turned to look at him. His skin was flushed and illuminated by street lights and his hair looked messed up from when Tala had tugged on it. He rose a brow, letting his expression soften and Bryan looked on. Silent confirmation, this was alright.

When Spencer returned, he held out both the marker and the change from a distance, but Tala made no move to take either. "Oh, keep that." Spencer frowned, knowing something was fishy here. "Help me test that pen though. Can't be stuck with a faulty one. Round right up to the other side."

Hesitantly, the blonde man pocketed the money and did as he was told. Tala motioned for Bryan to open the door. He, in turn, gave one concerned glance at the traffic on the street to the side of which they had pulled over and threw the door open for Spencer, baring himself for whoever decided to turn and look in their direction.

Tala smiled a gentle, welcoming smile. "Step up don't look so nervous. I am out of paper, see. Guess skin will have to do."

By now, Spencer's hesitation had vanished. He had caught on to the smirk on Tala's lips and the lust in Bryan's eyes. He stepped closer, and leaned over Bryan, letting his hand rest dangerously close to the other's cock. "Any requests?"

"I think 'cur' should do it."

Grinning, Spencer uncapped the pen and started drawing across Bryan's chest while Tala reached over and tweaked one of his nipples. The lavender haired man threw his head back, and almost reached for his dick, except for the hard tug on his nipple that made him abandon the effort. His legs quivered instead, and he bit down on his lip. His half-lidded eyes found Tala's and the red-head let out a lengthy curse at having to control himself like that and refrain from fucking him raw right there.

"Pretty fucking sexy for a dog, isn't he?" Spencer straightened to admire his handy work and then looked over at his companion, who grinned in approval and mock saluted him. "Have fun, you two." He called, before shutting the door to the car and leaving.

Staring at the smoothly drawn black markings across the pale skin, Tala couldn't stop himself. He reached over and kissed Bryan, hard. He encountered no resistance when he shoved his tongue into the open mouth. Tongues tangled roughly and once that began, hands came into play, Bryan's fist finding his still exposed cock, for which he was rewarded a sound smack. He took his hands off him but whined in Tala's mouth and that cued him to part.

Starting the car back up again, he reached for his phone in his pocket. He had pre-programmed and set the device up with his phone before, all he had to do was hit a button.

Which he did and was awarded a loud yelp, so dog-like in nature Tala wondered if Bryan was taking his role too seriously. Without sparing him a glance, Tala drove on, his destination barely fifteen minutes away.

"Tala please."

"What?"

"Let me… let me touch…-", Bryan panted in between high-pitched groans.

"Let you touch what?"

"Let me touch myself." Finally forming a coherent reply, he waited hopefully for Tala's answer before growling in his throat when he was rewarded with a sharp twist of his left nipple.

Keeping the vibrations to a minimum, Tala allowed Bryan to make as much noise as he wanted, silently taking pride in the moaning, helpless mess he had turned the proud Bryan Kuznetsov into, till they reached where he was headed to.

Quickly undoing his seat belt, he turned to Bryan. "Go ahead." He said as he pushed the vibrations a notch higher. "Touch yourself."

The open mouth formed an o of relief as the cur visibly relished in the feeling of a hand upon him, even as the now faintly audible thrum of the vibrator filled the space between them. "Oh, fucking hell, God."

Tala turned on the video recorder as the purple-haired man pumped himself and gripped his own balls, eyes closed and lips parted.

"I am going to send this to the next person who texts me, Bryan." Of course, he won't and Bryan knew that too, which was why instead of panicking he continued jerking himself and letting Tala record it.

Tala's hand reached his own dick, which was in the periphery of the camera too and he ran a finger over the top of it. Quickly deciding he won't last much longer, no matter how much he denied himself explicit contact, he reached over and retrieved the leash from where he had thrown it in the back, quickly hooking it on to Bryan's collar. Hiking the vibrations to the highest they would go, he allowed himself the pleasure of listening to Bryan's moans escalate to wanton and painful cries before putting his phone away, getting out and rounding on him.

Yanking the door open, he was confronted with a panting, slightly drooling man, with his hands full and his ass in the air as he arched out of his seat. Tala lowered the vibrations to the barest minimum again so Bryan could walk. Quickly dragging his hand away from his cock, Tala grabbed on to the leash and pulled him out of the car, his own fly still undone.

Once outside, stumbling and shivering Bryan crashed into Tala's body, their dicks rubbing together. Tala thrust against him once, before pulling back and his cur finally took in their surroundings. They were standing in somebody's front garden, with another car in the driveway. Squinting at the name-plate on the door a few yards in front of him, Bryan could piece together that it belonged to the Wongs.

He looked up questioningly at Tala, who just yanked on the leash and jerked his face around. "Walk, and if you dare open your mouth…" he let the unfinished threat hang between them for a few moments before tugging on the leash and pulling him along around the dark house and into its backyard where they subsequently exited into thick woods behind it through the rickety garden gate half hanging out of the frame.

The car was Lee's, he and his friends were out here for a weekend getaway. According to Mariah, they'd be at the pond behind the house and he knew the way very well from the numerous times he had snuck off to it with Mariah, Kai, Johnny, and Michael. Walking the leaf-littered path that cut its way through the foliage they drew closer to where Tala assumed the pond was. To his relief, as they came closer, they could make out the orange glow of a bonfire burning through the thicket. He didn't personally know Lee, never had been introduced, and frankly, it didn't matter. If things didn't go to shit they'd never have to face the asshole tonight.

His footsteps halted, listening in for any sudden movements from the group that detected they had heard the crunching of the leaves on the path or any other sounds that would alert them to the presence of the two. That made the cur go quiet behind him too.

Unbidden, all that he had heard about Lee from Ray jumped to the forefront of Tala's mind.

Feeling conflict rise in his chest, he closed his eyes, excitement nearly dying out. Rapidly, he turned to Bryan. Looping his arms around the elder's neck he cocked his head back, offering the pale column of his throat. Bryan quickly bit down on to it and Tala let him suck at his skin before tugging on his hair and making him look up. Licking Bryan's lips once, Tala began pressing him on to his knees on the ground.

He had no idea why they had never tried it out in the open before because the moon rays made Bryan's hair and eyes appear silver and the way the celestial light danced off his skin, making the sheen of sweat on his torso shimmer, had Tala mesmerized by how beautiful he looked.

Softly, he whispered. "Right ahead of us are seven to eight boys having a quiet drinking party by the bonfire. You make one sound, and they hear us, I will leave you here naked with that fucking plug vibrating at its max for them to do with you as they please so all through this, you better keep your mouth shut. Hands behind your back, too. Got it?"

Gulping, Bryan nodded, eyes still trained on Tala's member. Lining the other's face up with his dick, Tala rammed it down his throat, the moment the mouth opened. Bryan was used to his size though and knew how best to angle himself so he could accommodate him well. Tugging at Tala's jeans, he pulled back till only the tip of the pulsating flesh remained in his mouth as he looked up into the rapidly darkening blue eyes, requesting him to take his pants off.

Tala took a second to admire the view, and the hasty word scrolled across his lover's pale chest but in response, simply pushed Bryan's face back onto his dick.

Pulling out to the tip again, he let Bryan suckle it and lick across his leaking slit. He had always enjoyed that. As the other's bright eyes lifted up to him, almost begging to be filled again, he reached down to fondle his own balls as Bryan was forced to keep his head where Tala had placed him.

It was only when the expectant eyes dropped from his face that he jerked back into Bryan's mouth, catching him off-guard. With hasty movements of his hips, he fucked it raw and deep while still cupping his balls. Faint sounds of laughter and chatter, littered the air around him as his cur gagged on his cock. He kept going.

Deciding to switch increase the vibrations again, he reached for his phone, only to find one unread message from Ray. Frowning, he felt his throat clench. Forgetting all about the vibrator he placed the phone back in his back pocket. The familiar heat of an oncoming rage warmed him and he cursed at himself for the confusing mess of angst and hormones that he seemed to be tonight. Nevertheless, he grabbed a happily busy Bryan by the throat again before forcing him to stand up.

A loud slap was delivered to his cheek forcing him to get rid of his sex-crazed expressions before Tala forced him to turn around. "For your sake, I hope you lubed up.", he growled.

Knowing he hadn't given him enough time to.

Landing a loud smack against his butt cheeks, Tala parted them to reveal the black plug, while Bryan, bent at an awkward angle with no support to rest his weight against, panted with urgency. Tala slid the plug out of him, Bryan giving out a low hiss with the movement. He was pleased to find his hole had been well stretched out, but it was dry as powder and Tala was awfully glad for that.

Sucking on two of his fingers, he put them inside Bryan, making him groan and clutch his own dick. He prodded him with his fingers a few times, reaching over with his other hand to grab onto his throat and get him to straighten. Despite the slight chill of the air, the skin under his fingers was now slick with sweat as Bryan cocked his head back and rested it onto Tala's shoulder. "Take it standing up, bitch." He thrust his fingers inside him thrice more, to lure him into a false sense of security. Then, pulling away quickly, he plunged his dick into Bryan's ass, hand simultaneously moving to cover his screaming mouth.

Bryan's own hands found themselves holding onto Tala's hips behind himself, who continued thrusting hard without pausing to let his partner get accustomed to the feeling. Bryan's body vibrated against him, and he remembered him once saying he loved the feel of cloth against his naked skin.

Thrusting faster and deeper, his hand returned to its place on to Bryan's throat. He knew with this angle, he would never hit Bryan's prostate but he didn't really care whether he came or not. He'd, in fact, be happier if the nasty little slut was fucked sore. If he wanted to help himself along, he was free to but given the way he was panting and jerking himself towards Tala, he could rest assured the man was going to get himself done.

With his free hand, Tala gripped Bryan's ass again, spreading it a little to provide more space. Biting a groan at the cramped friction along his shaft, he buried his face in Bryan's shoulder, resisting the urge to scratch his way down his sides.

Usually, when he topped, he would wait for Bryan to finish, but today he had no such qualms. Driving himself as deep as he could go, he bit along the fair shoulder in front of him zeroed in on his own pleasure and almost completely oblivious to his partner. If anything was truly humiliating about this night, it was Tala's newfound disregard for Bryan's pleasure.

His thrusts got harder, and slowly Bryan started to lean more and more into him. Tala could tell his buckling knees could hardly support him now and his expression was frozen in a wince. Yet the guy seemed to be enjoying himself, jerking off and moaning every time Tala's teeth dug into his flesh, his body rocking with the pounding he was receiving. All dry and overused like that, Bryan's ass was going to be on fire when he woke up next.

Feeling something thick and tense pool into his belly, Tala drove himself faster, hardly thrusting and more rutting into Bryan's ass, his balls smacking the other's skin in soft slapping sounds. Removing his hand from the bastard's throat he brought it on to the other ass cheek. Spreading them as far as they could go, he almost made Bryan topple over as he struggled to contain his own cries, shuddering.

When Tala's orgasm hit, it was strong but nowhere near as satisfactory as it would have been if Ray's name hadn't flashed across his screen.

Pulling out of a startled Bryan, he did up his fly with shaking hands. Undoing his jacket, he let it drop to the ground beside Bryan's legs and made to leave.

"Tala…-" A pained voice rasped out behind him.

"Finish and sort yourself out, I am waiting in the car." He turned away.

…

He wanted to bang his head against the steering wheel as he sat there waiting for Bryan to show up.

What the fuck had he just done?! One and half hour of mindless lust and anger ended with him wanting to slit his own wrists.

To start off, he had fucked Bryan without lube and didn't even stop to finish him off. Who treated their boyfriend like that?

Secondly, leaving Ray with those sad golden eyes still in the back of his mind, he had promised himself he wasn't going to sleep with Bryan again. That would absolve him of some guilt at least. He just couldn't be that person in Ray's story.

Now he had gone and shit over everything, all because Bryan had a dehumanization kink and Tala had things to prove to him.

With a sigh, he unlocked his phone to be met with Ray's chat thread, realizing he must have clicked on it before stuffing his phone away. He groaned and ran a hand over his face. Great! Now Ray could probably see he had read the messaged and must be thinking he was deliberately ignoring them. His suspicions were confirmed when he came across a string of worrying texts.

'Hey, thanks for the evening. I needed it and I am so sorry I unloaded on you out of nowhere. You must be thinking I am a big crybaby. I mean who tells someone their whole life story on their third meeting, lmao.'

It seemed light-hearted enough but Tala could clearly see the crippling insecurity behind it. Especially that 'lmao', the International online expression for nervous laughter. In a sense, he got it. It was clear Ray didn't share personal details with just about anyone so it must have been nerve-wracking to realize how much he had given away to Tala.

After fifteen minutes he had sent another.

'I mean, you were probably looking for a fun thing, just to kill a bit of time and I just went all Eeyore on you. That is, it felt nice for me of course, but I shouldn't have only spoken about my problems like that and I would totally get if you don't wanna like, do this again.'

Goodness, THAT was the text he had left on read? Could the universe actually deal him the worse hand?

The ones that followed after Ray must have seen he had 'ignored' the texts made his stomach drop.

'Tala?'

'It's okay if you don't wanna speak to me.'

'Like, it's not okay! I'd want you to but if you don't want that's fine. No pressure.'

'Ugh shutting up now.'

'Sorry.'

This time Tala actually hit his head against the wheel. Where had this boy let his thoughts run off to?! Hadn't Tala asked him to go out again and even promised to buy ice-cream?! Where was this coming from?! Did this guy not know trust?!

One second thought, he was probably used to be shamed for being honest about himself, and then abandoned.

There was no point in responding now. The contact bar said Ray hadn't come online after sending in that last text. Furious again, Tala honked the horn one more time, desperate for Bryan to show up.

He only had to wait two more minutes and he caught sight of a fair man walking towards him in the soft moonlight, wearing his tan leather jacket. Resisting the need to honk at him again and reminding himself that Bryan's limping gait was all his own fault, Tala impatiently drummed his fingers against the steering. Why couldn't this bastard hurry up?!

One more minute and Bryan was climbing into the passenger seat. As soon as he had closed the door behind himself, he turned to Tala and pulled him in for a couple of soft and brief kisses.

"That was good." Bryan whispered against his mouth and Tala couldn't help raising a brow in doubt. He'd be utterly pissed if Bryan had just left him there to make himself cum but then again, he hadn't really liked any part of tonight, which apparently Bryan had been wanting for a while now. It was hot, admittedly but this humiliating others thing? He would rather not. He liked it rough, yes, but he enjoyed pampering his lovers both before and after the act, making them feel so good about themselves, they won't ever feel the same with anybody else. So yeah, never doing that again.

Tala gave him a tight smile and quickly started the car.

…

When they got home, Bryan wobbled in and crashed almost immediately as Tala battled with the want to call Ray.

He took himself to the living room with a cigarette and settled next to where Fenrir and Frost were cuddled together on the floor at the foot of the couch. Lighting up, he came to a decision and let his fingers dial the Chinese beauty.

Ray picked up on the eighth ring. "Hello?" He slurred out groggily, and a smile ghosted across Tala's lips. Sleepy Ray sounded sweet.

"Check the caller ID."

A shuffle and a small gasp before Ray returned to the phone, considerably more alert. "Hi, how are you? All good?" He rushed on, breathlessly.

"We just met a few hours ago, you dumb. And I get your sorrow over not having taken the chance to listen to my dulcet tones more, but really aren't we overthinking a little here?"

A nervous chuckle. "Maybe."

"It was perfectly alright, Ray. I am sorry all that happened to you, but I am very, very happy that confiding in me could be of some help and I'd love to hang out with you more often, no matter how gloomy, angry, hyper or batshit crazy you're feeling just then. Alright?"

"Yeah, I just… I don't know what happened. God, I must seem like such a mess to you. I promise I am not this hopeless all the time."

"Can you promise me something else though?"

"Yes! I mean, yeah, what is it?"

"Stop being so fixated on what I am thinking of you. Just consider me as a safe space, okay? You can be completely honest with me, totally genuine. I am not judging and I am not gonna be thinking ill of you over anything you might tell me."

There was a pause and Tala could clearly picture him biting his lip. It drove him to lick his own.

"Thanks, thanks a lot Tala. I barely know you, and yet the more I get to, the more it seems someone like you is exactly what I need in life right now."

That made him feel all cottony inside. "Yeah well, don't worry. You got me."

"Heh, looking back, I am pretty happy I happened to catch your eye."

"Happened to? Oh sir no, you were bound to."

Ray chuckled a little. "Don't flirt with me." His tone had gone from bearing the warning it had the first few times, to being laced with shyness.

"Oh well, that's goodbye to my will to live." Tala sighed dramatically, unaware of his big, dopey grin.

"Mhmmm will I get to say a few words at your funeral?"

"I will make sure you do. Mention my undying devotion to you, make a point to."

"Only if you alter your will to clearly state that your pups will be handed to me as mine."

"Excuse me, they will go to my best friends. Those tiny puppers are what keep the two idiots alive."

"Never mind that. I am sure you'd like company up in hell, after all."

Another chuckle escaped him. "Not if it ain't your rotund derriere's."

"Tala!", Ray whined while sniggering.

"Sorry."

"…Tala?"

"Yeah?"

A brief pause. "Nothing. Good-night."

"Night, kitten."

…

When ringing the bell thrice didn't fetch a response, he called Kai.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me, you lazy bitch! I have been standing here for two hundred and seventy-three years now, where the fuck are you?"

"The door's open. Thought you would eventually figure that out."

"Why couldn't you just text me that or something?!"

With a click Kai hung up, leaving Tala fuming again.

Turning the handle he found the door was indeed open. The moment he stepped into the posh apartment of his best friend, he was greeted with two Russian blue cats curling excitedly around his legs. Smiling, he dropped his duffle bag by the door and picked up the felines in both of his arms, stomping through the house to find its owner.

"Where's your asshole dad, guys?"

"In here!" Mariah's chirpy voice called out to him from the living room and he got pretty damn annoyed at that. If she was here too, surely she could've come up to open the door for him! Scowling, he headed to the living room where sure enough both of them were reclining on the couch with their laptops, Kai checking his mail and Mariah browsing through some weird site he didn't bother to try to figure out.

"You are both just sitting here! Why couldn't one of you come and get the door or something?"

"Didn't wanna see your face any sooner than when absolutely necessary." Kai remarked and Mariah nodded in agreement.

Smacking the back of both their heads, he went to plop down in between them, Kai's cats resting on his thighs. Immediately, Mariah spread her legs out on his lap, nudging the cats an inch or so away as he brought out his own phone and got busy for twenty minutes or so.

Till Kai finally looked up at him from over his thin, frameless spectacles. Tala thought they made him look a decade older but Kai insisted they were convenient and classy. "Why are you here?"

Tala sighed. "Mainly, because I couldn't bear having to look at Bryan all through the day. I needed a week or so away from him, but I suppose it's also because I have to start looking for a house. I want everything sorted before I move out."

"I have started looking actually."

"You started looking for houses for me, without consulting me?"

"I have put out some notices and shortlisted likely properties in good neighborhoods so you don't have to start from scratch, yes."

Surprised and yet not, (this was Kai Hiwatari after all, always a step ahead) he nodded dumbly before a smile broke out on his face. "Guess I am going to be okay after all?"

Mariah grinned, Kai smirked and Tala felt a little of his guilt chip away.

…

"You make me go in there and see him one more time, Ivanov and I will set termites loose in your hair!", Mariah seethed as she came in with both Frost and Fenrir tucked under each one of her arms. Queen was close behind her, holding the door open and smiling a greeting at him.

Both the puppies barked joyfully and skipped over to Tala the moment Mariah set them down. Happy to see them again after a whole three days, he spent a full six minutes fussing over them before calling out to the pink-haired girl who had taken herself and her girlfriend to the kitchen. "What did he say?"

"He was a total jerk!", she called back and he could hear her smack a pan on the countertop in apparent distaste. If Kai were home, he would scream at her to go easy on his cutlery but Tala didn't have that sort of courage. "Didn't even say hi to me when he opened the door and completely ignored Queen! Honestly, what is his problem?"

"He is just a man of loose morals and no courtesy. Don't bother with him, god knows I don't." Frost jumped onto his lap for cuddles and Fenrir, who had been running around the place and nosing everything in his new surroundings followed immediately after. Almost making the husky topple over with a rough shove, Fenrir settled in Tala's lap contently, bushy tail wagging behind him, and tongue hanging out, desperate for Tala's affection showers.

Mariah came back into the living room a moment later and squeezed his shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "If it's anyone's loss, it's his." Behind her, Utre and Veche, Kai's two Blues followed immediately trotting over to Tala to inspect both the newcomers.

Tala scoffed, not for a second doubting her words. "Don't I know that? He just played two of the most amazing men he could ever hope to encounter, and damn, is he gonna regret that." Saying, that he returned to his sketchpad, featuring his latest designs for the Fall-Winter collection. He had meetings coming up and needed to finish at least seven of them that night alone so he could be free to meet up with Ray the next morning.

….

Tala left Frost at the animal care Kai left Utre and Veche at every day, before heading over to pick Ray up from his house. The Chinese suggested they meet halfway, but Tala had insisted. Ray didn't need to drive when he could easily get him.

His neighborhood was exactly what Tala had assumed it would be like, all quiet, respectable and friendly-looking. Every house had a small front garden and neatly trimmed hedges. Ray's own house was a modest white-beige two storey with a 'Beware of animals' sign hanging outside the front gate. Tala assumed it must be nice, living a peaceful, non-chaotic life in there.

He pulled up outside and texted Ray he had reached. After a five minute wait, he responded saying he would take two minutes and then took fifteen to finally rush over into Tala's car with his trainers still untied.

With a sheepish smile, he put on his seatbelt. "I am so sorry, I was just sitting there in my towel when you texted me you had arrived."

"It's no big deal." Passing Fenrir, who was previously in the passenger seat, to Ray, who immediately began cooing at the puppy, he headed towards the breakfast place, he had decided to take his 'friend' to.

…

Over the course of the next two weeks, they texted regularly and met up five times, for coffee or drinks, or just so Ray could meet Fenrir. He always insisted Tala bring his other pup too, but Tala told him Frost was staying with a friend of his. The redhead had even gotten to meet Ray's other friends, all of who were immature airheads, whom Ray acted as a mom friend towards but Tala supposed they weren't bad at heart and fairly tolerable once he tuned them out.

Over time, they had gotten pretty close too. They joked and messed around for hours on end, without getting bored of each other, which was quite a statement, in Tala's case at least. Ray was playful and smart so it was easy for him to keep up with Tala's mischief-loving streak without getting butthurt, and the Russian in-turn craved the calm of Ray's presence which was a much-appreciated break from the controlled chaos that Tala's life always was. He had always believed he liked things to be fast-paced and lively, and to an extent he did but when it inevitably got overwhelming, the peaceful persona of the Chinese man was more than welcome to him.

As things proceeded into the dangerous territory of 'waiting for replies', 'checking if he's online' and 'wonder what he would think of this shirt', Tala's two best friends sat back and watched with satisfied smirks on their faces. It was nice to see Tala Ivanov be reduced to a giggling teenager once in a while, or more like for the first time, and they believed that he had actually forgotten what he first approached Ray for. His words had become genuine and his actions were heartfelt instead of being scheming and suggestive. Mariah was happy for him, Kai was worried to a degree but for once, they decided it was best to let things flow instead of interfering with the course of them.

However, the two weeks of respite were soon over and it would seem absurd for Tala to avoid going back home any longer. With a thunderous scowl on his face, he stomped around Kai's apartment ignoring the host himself, as well as the animals, on the last day of his stay there. He won't respond to Mariah's messages either and when Ray's notification pinged, he all but threw his phone across the room.

Letting Ray's call go to voicemail, he sat pouting in front of the TV and that was how Kai found him when he returned home with take-away that night.

As his friend placed himself next to him, Tala's pouting intensified. With a huff, the slate-haired man leaned into Tala's line of vision. "You don't have to go back. I can go get your stuff."

"Just this morning you asked me to get the fuck out of your hair."

"Since when do we take each other literally, Tala?"

"I really don't want to."

Kai shifted and leaned back, throwing his arms behind his head. "Then don't. Move out straight into your house when you have to." Yes, earlier in the week Tala had filed in for a cool ranch-style house that he had fallen in love with when he first saw it. There was a spacious back yard for Fen and Frost and his yet to come army of dogs, a garage to the side and fairly priced bar close by. Apart from that, Tala really wasn't a demanding dweller.

"That will give the game away, Kai."

"Are you even playing it any more?"

It was a question Kai had been avoiding asking him outright, not wanting him to snap and lose his shit.

To his surprise, Tala remained calm. "No, I am not." He paused for a second, then turned to look at his best friend. "I lost but well, Bryan didn't win either."

"I thought you would freak out."

Stretching back, and subconsciously moving closer to Kai, Tala said, "I like to believe I am a self-aware man, Kai and I can see it, I like him. I really do. It gets confusing. At times, I feel like I am deluding myself and that I have somehow managed to convince myself I have fallen for him just to be able to justify tearing him away from Bryan, knowing his history with Lee and everything. And yet, I know that's not it."

Intrigued and surprised at how openly Tala was speaking about this, Kai decided to question him further. "What is it, then?"

"I want to be close to him, and not because it would hurt Bryan but because I simply want to be."

"You can always tell him the truth."

"Should I though? If I would just step out of the scene here, he could have a real relationship with Bryan."

Kai quirked a brow, sensing more to come. "But?"

Tala smirked. "But I want him to be happy and I know for a fact I make him happier than that two-timing pillar of dog shit does."

…

**Probably gonna be done in three more chapters. **


	4. Chapter 4

**This is the second to last installment of this fic. Easily will be the first one to be wrapped up so quickly by me.**

Regretfully, Tala had to go back home and then struggle to fend off Bryan's advances, who seemed overly eager to be stripped naked and driven through town again. His first day back was incredibly stressful, given Bryan's brazen approaches, and then his bitch fit when Tala told him he was tired. They had a verbal spat, Bryan stormed out and after waiting around for an hour Tala called Ray.

When Ray picked up, his voice was hushed and nervous as he informed Tala that Bryan had shown up with a temper upon him and Ray was actually worried about how forcefully he had grabbed and kissed him. Immediately on alert, Tala asked if he should drive over. Ray simply told him that would worsen things before hanging up.

He did drive over, though. He stopped a block away and kept his phone's ringer volume turned the highest it would go for the entire night, alert for any calls or texts from Ray. There came none.

…

When they spoke the next afternoon, Ray's voice was lack-lustre as he informed Tala about the bitch fit Bryan had thrown about Ray's prudishness. He sounded shaken at that. The man must have actually believed Bryan was supportive of his needs.

When Tala told Ray all he had had to do was drop a text because he had stayed a block away the entire night, the Chinese sniffed a few tears away and thanked him. Tala put his own head in his hands.

…

It had been a week since then. Bryan and Tala were no longer talking to each other. Their co-existence was silent and out of necessity. During this time, Ray had given in to Bryan's pestering and given him head. Tala was furious about that.

Mariah came up with a brilliant idea around then. For her birthday, that was in two days, she decided to throw a house party and made sure to get in touch with Ray and invite him to it. They no longer cared if it looked absurd. They needed to gauge Ray's feelings towards Tala from his reactions to the redhead and then reveal the deal ASAP.

When Tala found out what they had done, he couldn't judge how he should react at all.

Everything worked out in his favour though, when Ray called him the evening of the day he received Mariah's invitation and asked him if he would mind accompanying him to Lee's sister's birthday party. The Chinese mentioned how back then, Mariah had revealed the truth of his relationship with her brother to anyone who bothered mentioning it to her, despite being Lee's sister. Tala felt incredibly proud of her at that.

"I would love to come along but are you sure you wanna go? Lee would definitely be there."

"Tala, trust me when I say, a, I am over Lee Wong, b, I have only gotten hotter since I dumped him. Sure I wanna go? I have been desperate for an opportunity to bump into him and force him to acknowledge what a huge mistake it was to let me go. His face full of regrets is the closure I need and I want you by my side when I get to see it."

Tala chuckled. "Aye aye, captain."

"Uh, yeah well, about that… I don't just want you to come. I want you to come pretending to be my boyfriend."

Tala was stunned at that. The first thought that raced through his head was why Ray hadn't just asked Bryan to go with him but he didn't voice it out loud, half-afraid Ray would decide that was the better option after all. Amidst all that turmoil, his witty come back was lost and replaced by a nervous sounding 'sure'.

…

When he put effort into it, Ray cleaned up well.

He was wearing a white button-down with sleeves rolled up to the elbows with a navy blue vest and dark jeans. He had slicked his hair into a half-pony and left out a few strands to frame his face. When he smiled, his cheeks only appeared even chubbier that day for some reason.

As soon as he buckled himself into Tala's passenger seat, he started babbling about how excited he was to see Mariah again. Tala listened with a half-smile as he started the car and put it into gear. He had let his hair down tonight, something he rarely ever did and had been expecting for it to be the first thing Ray would notice and comment on. Admittedly, he was just a tad disappointed.

Knowing full well where Mariah lived, Tala didn't have to wait for Ray to stop talking in order to tell him her address. He didn't bother asking either because in fifteen minutes it'd become obvious they knew each other, so he didn't see the point. Underestimating Ray's thick-headedness, he was pretty surprised to see that the Chinese, busy regaling Tala with stories from when he used to be tight with Mariah and Lee, didn't even notice that they had reached their destination without him having to tell the Russian where it was.

Excitedly unbuckling himself, he was ready to jump out of the car when Tala reached over and slammed his hand on to the door handle, making Ray start and turn to the redhead. They were super close. Tala didn't want to move away and Ray didn't seem especially uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?"

Tala sighed, and regretfully pulled away. "Need to address a few things here."

Ray's face turned to follow him. "Like what?"

"Like why you asked me to pretend to be your boyfriend when you have got a perfectly real one sitting at home."

Ray rolled his eyes. "Have you paid any mind at all to anything I have been telling you these past five months?"

At risk of sounding stupid, "What do you mean?"

Ray twisted his torso around to be facing Tala fully and put on a sarcastic tone for good measure. "What I mean is that Bryan would go berserk the moment I mention Lee. He won't even wait to hear the rest of it, or be appeased by the fact that I am actually trying to make a point of my relationship here! Leading him in here, totally unaware would be just as bad, Tala."

"… And you mean to tell me there was no way you could've worked around that?" Tala raised a brow. Yes, Bryan would pitch a fit but it was nothing that couldn't be weathered out. Honestly, though he was glad for it, he found the situation pretty fucking weird.

A sigh fell out of his 'boyfriend'. "Look, I just wanted to have one good, non-complicated, fun night with an attractive boy by my side who could help me forget the shit show that my love life is right now."

Tala couldn't see a way to be as nonchalant about it as Ray. "You are treading into dangerous territory here."

Smirking a little, Ray said. "Don't I know that?" Before taking himself out of the car.

Tala couldn't deny the slight sting of pain that produced. Now that he had actually grown into the feelings he had led Ray to believe he had, it became obvious to him that Ray _knew_. He knew Tala liked him, and yet he would do this, whatever this was. Couldn't he see it would hurt Tala to be tantalized with what he desperately wanted like this, for one night of fake touches and proximity? Or was he honestly willing to let Tala's heart be messed with like that?

… or maybe, Ray actually liked Tala more than he let himself believe.

A bittersweet smile on his lips again, he got out of the car and walked over to Ray. The Chinese looked at him with a soft, tangible, loving grin that had Tala marveling at how good an actor he was. Before he realized, that was how Ray always smiled at him.

Mood considerably lifted, he walked on, excited once again about introducing Ray to all his friends, especially Kai, since he knew how that fucker worried. He had a feeling the two would get along though.

A hand snaked into his, and the redhead, in turn, pulled his companion closer to him. Sharing one final look, they headed over to Mariah's house. They could clearly see the dark pink-tinged light overflowing out of the ridiculously decorated windows (somebody in the Wong household had thought it was a good idea to stick baby pictures of Mariah on the panes). The whole house seemed to vibrate with the thrumming of an upbeat guitar so they probably had Johnny's playlist hooked on. They were a fair few people dilly-dallying on the porch with cups in hand and Tala felt a smug smile wash across his features when one of the two girls standing right beside the door gave the two of them an appreciative glance. He subtly nudged Ray, who looked up and gave the girl a dashing smile, before looping his arm through the redhead's.

"Are you ready?" Tala asked.

"Yes.", Ray answered before opening the door and immediately exposing them to an onslaught of loud music and the musky, heavy scent that clings to parties. The house was packed with bodies and though the outside appeared gaudy, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves in there. Quickly whipping out his phone, Tala snapped Mariah a picture of the side of Ray's face, knowing if there was an app she would be checking frequently at her own party, it would be Snapchat.

Stepping in, the two of them subconsciously drew as close to each other as they possibly could, hands gripping tighter. Now that they were in the lion's den, Ray's excited smile had turned a tad nervous.

"I haven't seen her for years so we have to find her, right now!" Ray leaned closer and screamed into the Russian man's ear who only nodded and dragged Ray into the kitchen, where the alcohol was, and Kai definitely would be, as some sort of reference point.

He wasn't wrong, and after all these years of being best friends with the bloke, he'd be pretty ashamed if he were. The slate-haired man was indeed leaning against a wall in a desolate corner, staring broodily into his glass of whiskey, effectively conveying to all the merry drunkards around him that he was not to be bothered.

Marching over to him, Tala finally loosened his hold on Ray, now that they were in the safe space of a radius of six meters around Kai that had been demarcated as turbulent territory for all outsiders in their school days.

"You could look a little happier."

"You could have appeared a little sooner." Kai looked up at that, eyes immediately going to Ray and taking him in, making the latter draw closer to his 'boyfriend'.

Turning to Ray (he seemed a little surprised but seemed to have chalked Tala's familiarity with Kai down to them being some sort of mutual acquaintances, and this ultimately being a chance meeting), Tala introduced them. "Ray, this is Kai, my best friend and Kai this is Ray and well, you know who he is."

Visibly unsure and hesitant, Ray bravely stuck his hand out for Kai to shake. "Hey."

Kai narrowed his eyes. Tala subtly stepped on his toes. Kai shook Ray's hand.

"Don't let him phase you. He looks all broody and gloomy and creepy but he is actually pretty chill. You just have to give him time, and overlook everything he does to you prior to the point that he deems you his friend."

That got Ray to smile. "Oh well, I bet he's not all that bad."

In response, Kai straightened up, towering over the two. "Not when I am not stuck with random strangers all stupidly intent on making drunken fools of themselves in the name of socializing."

Ray's grin got broader. "Big party animal, huh?" Kai grunted. "Well, that's one way to put it."

"Where's Mariah, Kai?" Tala cut in before the conversation could continue.

Looking up behind Tala's shoulder, the red-eyed male raised a brow. "Give it three seconds."

Tala frowned. "What?"

He didn't get a chance to say much else as immediately later, he was glomped from behind by someone wearing a very familiar scent, Dare by Guess to be precise. Turning around, Tala couldn't help but smile as he hugged the pink-haired girl properly. Dropping a kiss atop her head, he pulled himself away from her, subtly reminding her to lavish some of her ardent attention on the open-mouthed spectator of their little greeting.

With a bright smile and a half squeal, Mariah glomped Ray next, who still looked stunned, with his eyes growing larger with every passing second. Tala heard a snicker and turned to throw a half-hearted glare at Kai as he tried to hold his own smirk. Ray's face looked comical and when he brought his arms up to hug Mariah, it was out of pure instinct.

He shook himself out of his daze, and a smile slowly unfurled on his features. "Long time, Mariah.", he whispered fervently and the pinkette nodded in his chest. Ray raised his eyes to Tala next. "Why didn't you tell me you knew each other?"

"Just a little surprise." Tala shrugged.

"Oh well,", Ray dismissed it and immediately turned back to Mariah, both talking a mile a minute in a rush to tell each other everything about the past few years. Tala could make out Queen being mentioned, cueing Ray to look up at the redhead with questioning eyes. Tala nodded, and a smiling Ray proceeded to introduce them as boyfriends.

…

They had a good time, Ray quickly earned Kai's approval as a tolerable companion and the three spent quite a lot of time together, with Queen by their side, given how Mariah was busy playing the bubbly birthday girl-cum-attentive host. They hadn't caught sight of Lee yet, but his sister had previously informed them that he was indeed, present.

Currently, Ray was cheering Kai on as he and Tala engaged in a fierce drinking battle. Queen was at his own side, with sarcastic comments about how Kai's face looked redder than usual (which was true. Tala had a higher tolerance for liquor than anyone they knew), and how Tala would definitely win. They had asked the other two to compete with them, but Ray and Queen had quickly done some eye-to-eye discussion and declined the offer.

Now on their sixth vodka shot, not including all the other drinks they had had before, both were feeling slightly tipsy but were unwilling to give up. Tala couldn't give up because it was bad enough Ray was betting on his opponent to win, he just couldn't bear losing in front of his crush. Kai won't give up because when did Kai ever give up?

As they downed another shot, Tala threw his head back at the bitter taste that he could never get used to. He didn't even like vodka.

Ray was watching him, though. His mouth was singing praises of their slate-haired companion but the golden eyes never once strayed from Tala, nor did the smirk falter. Though it confused him what the Chinese found so amusing, that particular expression on his face made thrills erupt in the Russian's stomach. The party raged on around them, unmindful of the turmoil in Tala's gut, all caused by that one little smirk. It was almost a promise, that if only they got drunk enough, if only…

Tala smiled back at Ray and his lowered inhibitions were to be blamed for if it came out more tender than it usually did. For a second, it seemed as if the latter would get up and move to him before something shifted in his eyes and he tore his gaze away, smirk gone without a trace.

Wordlessly, Kai slid their glasses across the table towards Queen to refill. He had grown quieter as the game proceeded, probably because he knew that if he spoke now, he would definitely slur his words.

"Alright, that's about enough." Ray intervened, quickly snatching the bottle of vodka from Queen's hands.

With an effort, Tala kept his voice from breaking. "I am good to go."

Ray frowned. "No, you are not. We have to drive home, remember?"

Kai looked about ready to protest along with Tala but Ray folded his arms across his chest and glared down at the two with a raised brow. Were they sober they would have stopped to admire the ferocity of it, but in their slightly intoxicated states all they did was scoff at him. Tala reached out for the bottle, but Ray swung away and tipped it empty down his throat, turning back to them with an ugly gag, followed by a victorious smirk.

"There's an open bar here." Kai raised a brow.

"Guys please! If you lose your shit and start puking and fainting everywhere, we won't even be able to enjoy the party!"

"What is there to enjoy? Don't you dare be expecting us to go out there and shake our butts." Okay, so Kai wasn't slurring but now he didn't look all that inclined to stop talking either. "And please, I haven't puked since…" and he lost himself trying to recall when was the last time he puked.

Seeing arguing with Kai for the hopeless endeavor it was, Ray turned to Tala with his demanding kitty eyes. Truth be told, even if he didn't employ them, there was nothing Tala could deny Ray.

"Alright, kitten." He smiled and was relieved to see the Chinese smile back.

"Ray?" The moment the voice reached his ears, Tala decided it was downright detestable. "Ray Kon?"

Ray whipped his head up and immediately loped his hand in Tala's.

Though they had never met Lee, given the hatred the siblings had for each other, Tala had often seen pictures of him. The lad must not be photogenic, because the real-life version of him could almost pass for handsome. The neon lights around them weren't especially flattering either, but he had a fine, broad build, something Tala could see Ray being attracted to. A strong jaw added character to his face. His hazel eyes were trained on the Chinese, who had yet to say a word.

"Aren't you Ray Kon?" Lee asked, from his position behind the couch Kai and Queen occupied. Neither of them turned to greet him, but the girl was scowling and the guy was watching the two in front of him with barely contained tension.

"Yes." Ray replied, and just to be petty. "You are?"

Lee got knocked down a peg then, as his eyes roamed over his ex-flame. Slightly offended, he frowned. "I am Lee, don't you remember me?"

Ray raised a brow. "Not in the best of lights, no." Tala felt himself smirk as he drew closer to him, quite obviously tucking his head under the Russian's jaw.

A sheepish sigh escaped Lee. "We were kids Ray, I was being stupid. It's been years, come on." He took a step towards where they were sitting before stopping himself and surveying Tala. "Introduce me to your friend, maybe?"

"He isn't a friend, he's my boyfriend. Tala, douchebag. Douchebag, Tala." Lee frowned again as he recognized the name, but given how little he ever wanted to do with Mariah after she had spilled the beans on exactly what he had done to Ray, Tala could safely bet his life the elder won't know who they were. Instead he gave the Russian another look-over before addressing Ray.

"It's nice to see you again. You, you look great." He took a sip of his drink and tried for a charming smile.

"I know." Ray simply replied.

Something soft permeated the older man's expression and the very insides of Tala screamed at him to pull Ray right into his lap.

"You haven't changed at all. I remember all those times I tried to give you compliments and you _always_ replied with 'I know'."

"No, I have actually. I am not who I used to be at all, but I don't think you deserve to get to know anything new about me." Tala noticed Ray's voice getting tighter and he turned around to take in his rigid posture and his flared nostrils. No matter what he believed, it was obvious Lee's presence still affected him.

"Come on, Ray. Let's not do this here, alright? If you want, we can talk later. Maybe catch breakfast tomorrow or something?"

Tala rolled his eyes at the audacity of this man. "I don't think you heard him earlier, dude. He has a boyfriend now, back off." He smiled at Lee, and this time didn't stop himself from actually pulling Ray onto his lap.

"Yeah, no, I got that. It was just a harmless offer, between friends-"

"You aren't his friend. You aren't his anything." Tala cut him off, effectively silencing his trap with the sort of scowl he didn't often display.

"Honestly, why are you being so insecure?", Lee frowned.

Tala scoffed. "Stop deluding yourself. I am just stating what he is too courteous to say, get the fuck away from him." Lee refused to budge. "I don't wanna cause a scene here Lee, so really, leave."

Finally, Lee tuned back into his surroundings and seemed to realize Tala wasn't going to back off and let him say another word to Ray. What expression Ray himself was wearing, Tala couldn't be sure but he guessed it was nothing encouraging, given how the older Wong rolled his eyes and marched off.

A heartbeat later, Ray had turned himself and thrown his arms around the Russian's neck. Tightening his hold around Ray's midriff, Tala dared to brush a kiss against his temple.

"I wanted to rub it in his face, make him feel stupid but I don't know what happened. I don't ever wanna see him again." Ray whispered against his neck.

"It's alright. He's probably feeling stupid right about now and you don't have to see him again. We can leave right now if you want to."

Ray nodded against him. "If you don't mind." He pulled away. "I just need to go use the restroom."

"Alright. I am waiting right here."

…

When Ray returned from the washroom, a ridiculous 37 minutes later, he was seething and his face and collar were wet. His hair had been pulled out of its ponytail and the frown on his head was humongous.

Immediately, Tala was out of his seat. He met Ray on the threshold of the room, and gently tugged the visibly enraged man to the side, so as to avoid blocking the entryway for other guests. "What happened?"

For a second, it seemed like Ray might actually bite his face off before he visibly exhaled and rested his head on Tala's shoulder instead. "Nothing.", he mumbled.

Tala smiled. "Doesn't seem like 'nothing' to me."

"Just… Lee." Ray shifted closer so that his lips were brushing the base of Tala's neck and the redhead held back a shiver.

"Did he corner you up there? What did he say?"

"Bullshit things. It doesn't matter." Tala wrapped his arms around Ray and the now familiar feeling of _want_ hit him again.

"What bullshit things?"

"Tried to apologize in the worst way possible, made it seem like it only happened because _we_ were immature little kids, almost as if any part of this was any of my faults. Then he cornered me against the wall and tried to kiss me. I punched his jaw and locked him in the washroom."

"It was not your fault and he is an asshole for trying to pull that shit."

"I know." Ray lifted his head and stepped closer to Tala so that their chests brushed together. To say the redhead was confused at this point was an understatement. Ray had been completely out of character for the entire night. He stood too close and kept on saying suggestive things. Tala didn't know how to work around this. Had he been as emotionally unattached as he was in the beginning, he would have whisked the Chinese to the nearest broom closet by this point but now that he had those pesky little things called emotions raining on his parade, he felt ridiculously out of his depth.

"Honestly, it seems like that one punch was the closure I needed after all. I feel angry of course, but its a good anger, not the sort of anger that takes out of me."

Tala didn't quite know what to say to that. "That's good. Let's go get ice cream somewhere?"

"No, I don't wanna leave anymore. Why should I? It's my friend's birthday and I am seeing her after years! It will be like handing Lee another victory over me if I leave and I don't wanna let him hold a second more of my life from here on."

Tala couldn't keep himself from reaching up and stroking the black hair at that.

"Well hellooooooo!" A loud whistle was directed at them and Tala turned to glare at the pink-haired birthday girl. "There's someone locked in the bathroom the floor above, but it sounded like Lee so I had them stick on a paper that reads do not open." Mariah burst out in giggles at that. She was obviously well beyond drunk. Slightly swaying, she pointed a finger at Ray. Growing frighteningly serious, frighteningly fast she muttered, "I know it was you." before bursting out into giggles again.

"Yes, yes.", Ray smiled as Mariah latched onto his arm.

Blinking owlishly at the two males, she made a motion for them to lean closer. When both of them had their ears placed next to her mouth, she made a weird gurgling noise and started laughing again.

Straightening, Tala cast a worried look at Mariah. "Do you think we ought to put her to bed?"

"No way! It's her own party!" Ray laughed before looping an arm around her waist. It was quite possibly the alcohol that had started hitting him. "And one hell of a party it's going to be."

…

Well, it was a hell of a party, quite literally for Kai.

The Russian had never been a party animal and three hours after midnight, he decided five hours of socializing was enough for the month or so. He had attempted escaping the house a grand total of six times now, only to be intercepted by a pink-faced Ray every single time, who was extremely sharp when it came to detecting Kai's attempts to leave.

Now the bastard was passed out on the couch.

Tala, on the other hand, had had fun. It was only the closest ones remaining now, most guests had gone home. Mariah was cuddled in a corner of the same couch as Kai with Queen, both the girls blissfully asleep. Her younger cousin Kevin was smoking the last of their blunts by their feet. Michael and Johnny were talking in slow, hushed whispers about… diarrhea, of all things and another couple Tala vaguely recognized as Julia and Robert, Mariah's dance school friends, were making out in the corner. Ray was sitting next to him on the bean bag they had squeezed themselves in, half draped onto Tala and his breathing was soft, never breaking the silence of the night.

They had played drinking games after Mariah had insisted on kissing every single one of them. Truth or dare, drunk charades, cards against humanity and a failed attempt at strip poker later, they were all exhausted from laughing and drinking. Lee's constant banging against the bathroom door had stopped sometime around half an hour past one and they had heard his motorbike coming to life, suggesting the older Wong had left the house somehow.

The highlight of the night for Tala was when Mariah had dared him to kiss Kai, and Ray in all his tipsy temper had slammed his fist onto the table and glared right into her hazel eyes before growling, "Change the fucking dare."

The Russian's heart had all but burst then, even if it meant he had to endure Mariah, Kai, Johnny and Michael, waggling brows, smirking, nudging and winking at him for the next forty-five minutes in that order.

Abruptly, Ray stood up from next to him and headed towards the kitchen. Assuming he was just going to get another beer, Tala waited for him for some nine minutes before following after him.

He wasn't in the kitchen at all and the door to the Wong's yard, which had been closed the entire night, was now open.

Rolling his eyes, Tala stumbled out towards the yard, and the swimming pool situated in the yard. He was starting to feel woozy himself, despite his legendary alcohol tolerance.

Tala paused for a second when he saw the Chinese. His shirt lay by his feet, (the vest had been discarded earlier in their brief game of strip poker) and he had tied his hair into a messy man bun, displaying a toned back to anyone who bothered to look. The moonlight reflecting back from the pool cast shadows along his fine features, making him appear older than he was. Busy fiddling with his belt buckle, Ray was oblivious to his audience.

Tala stepped out into the yard and Ray immediately turned around. Relaxing upon realizing it was only Tala, the raven-haired man smiled lazily before pulling the belt out of its loops.

"What are you doing?", Tala asked.

Ray dropped the belt beside his shirt and began undoing his jeans. "Going for a swim."

Tala watched in silence as the denim was pushed down the long tanned legs. Ray turned around and blue eyes immediately found his boxer-clad ass. Tala smirked. He was right, Ray had quite the bubble butt.

In a second, the Chinese had dived into the pool. When he resurfaced facing Tala, he slicked his hair back and grinned. "Question is, do you wanna join me?"

Tala raised a brow. After a night of confusion and conflicting emotions, he had come to the conclusion he quite liked this new Ray. Stripping slowly down to his own underwear, milking Ray's hungry gaze to the maximum, Tala dropped his clothes next to Ray's before casually stepping into the pool himself.

Wading closer to the Chinese, he saw Ray stepping back with an ever-widening grin. The closer Tala got, the more Ray receded till he gave a wink and swam away from the Russian. Giving a short, distinctly dog-like bark of laughter, Tala followed with his own sweeping strokes.

They chased each other around the pool for a few minutes before Ray changed tactics and started back floating leisurely. Smirking, Tala waited for him to come closer to where he stood next to the edge of the pool before snatching the tan waist and lifting Ray into his arms, cornering him against the wall.

"What are you playing at, Kon?" He questioned, before finding himself become awfully distracted with the beads of water traveling down the side of his neck, right where Tala supposed his sweet spot would be.

He registered Ray's mouth moving but he couldn't make out the words. The golden-eyed man straightened, pressing their chests together. Tala almost stepped back in surprise, but a pair of tan arms around his neck froze him in place.

Neither of them was smirking now and the air between them had thickened considerably. A droplet from one of his own bangs fell forward onto the tip of Ray's nose, slid down the corner of his lips, his chin and neck, to pool into the dip between his collarbones. Tala itched to follow its trail with his own tongue. Ray's skin tingled against his and he felt his partner rise on to his tiptoes and slot their lips together.

As if a switch had been flicked, Tala came to his senses, closed his eyes and immediately overtook the kiss. Pressing Ray back against the wall, he adjusted his legs to be slotted more comfortably against the other's. Tilting his head to the side, Tala kissed Ray fiercely, licking against his lips and dipping his tongue into the readily opened mouth.

Ray moaned encouragingly.

Feeling a frenzy take over him, Tala started roaming his hands across Ray's back, tracing his spine, mapping his shoulder blades and squeezing his ass. He felt hands reach up into his hair and Ray abruptly pulled away.

Stroking his hair gently, Ray smiled. "Your hair looks good left down."

Heat burst in the pit of Tala's stomach and he bit down on Ray's exposed shoulder.

"Owww!" Ray's hands slid down from his hair to his face and forced him to look into confused golden eyes. "Why'd you do that?"

Unable to explain his weird need to just take a bite out of the Chinese man, Tala tried to hide his blush and go back to Ray's neck but his face was forced back up as Ray dug his nails into his cheeks in warning.

Soon though, he started chuckling. "You're a lot like a dog, you know."

Still fighting off embarrassment Tala shook his hands off and started dragging his tongue up Ray's throat. The Chinese shuddered as he laughed harder. "Yep, definitely a dog."

Soon enough, the laughter turned to faint sighs of arousal as Tala continued his assault of the tan flesh, determined to leave so many love bites on Ray that he wouldn't set foot out of his house till they faded.

Their lips found each other again and this time, he let Ray dominate the kiss, set its pace and enter his mouth. They wrestled for a while, even as Tala deliberately kept himself from touching Ray anywhere below his hip bones, mindful of his issues with intimacy. He didn't want his precious kitten to scamper off mere minutes into this.

Biting down on his ear, Tala sure as hell didn't have enough brain cells to spare for the useless activity of being aware of his surroundings so they were surprised out of their minds when a girl's soft giggle sounded a foot away from them. They jumped apart and Tala's hand flew straight to his sternum.

Leering down at them from Ray's left was Julia Fernandez in flesh. Tilting her head, she eyed the two semi-naked men lecherously before commenting, "You do make a hot couple. Ever thought of making a sex tape?"

Ray went frigid next to Tala as soon as the word 'couple' left Julia's mouth.

"Anyways, Hiwatari is up and glaring at everyone but his head obviously hurts too much for him to actually come and find you. So I offered. Hurry back in, before he breaks something. Or someone."

With that Julia skipped back inside, leaving the two in uncomfortable silence.

A second later Ray was moving away and Tala was reaching out for him, only to have his offered hand smacked away.

Ray looked up with tear-filled eyes and a guilt-wracked expression. "I am sorry, Tala I can't do this to him. I can't believe I… I just proved myself to be exactly what he keeps telling me I am."

He felt the stirrings of a much familiar rage at the other man's words. "Are you fucking with me?"

… "What?"

"Who do you think you are, acting all high and mighty after coming on to me like that?! You knew I liked you and yet you did all this, all the time you called _me_ your boyfriend today! All the time somebody told you _I_ looked good with you!-"

"Tala…"

"You can't do this to him?! You didn't seem to have too many qualms just now! What do you think I am?! Just a bloody convenient little worshipper for you to use as you please?! What was this just now, Ray?! Do you honestly care so little about me?!"

The other man was openly crying now. "No, that's not what this is."

"Then what is it, cause I can't figure it out! I have feelings for you and you know that… and yet…"

Tala trailed off because Ray was already moving away from him. Quickly, climbing out of the pool he dressed himself, put on his shoes and pretty much ran away.

In his desperation he didn't notice, it was Tala's shirt he had put on.

…

**Oh, Ray. Not the smartest way to deal with your wandering loyalties. Please do review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I am actually pretty iffy about this chapter. Not my favorite so far. **

When Tala woke up in the morning, he had a splitting headache and his left arm felt dead. His head was hanging down the side of the bed, so his neck felt painfully stretched too. When he struggled with himself and opened his eyes despite the headache and the blindingly bright light, he found himself in Mariah's room, on her bed with the window thrown wide open. Kai was cuddled into his side, with his head on his arm, which was why it felt dead. All in all, it was a pretty crappy morning, even without the memory of what had happened in the pool last night.

His throat felt sore and dry and when he tried calling out for Mariah, he found his vocal chord won't co-operate with him. Kai was still snoring and didn't seem like he would be waking up any time soon so he reached out and started blindly fumbling for his cell phone. When his fingers did collide with a device, he found it was Kai's. He shot a quick missed call to Mariah's cell, then put it away and closed his eyes and within two minutes soft footsteps sounded outside the room.

"I had been planning on screaming at you both till you woke up, you know." The sow had the guts to sound conversational, and even slightly put off, as if that wasn't a downright demonic thing to do to her hung-over best friends.

Tala tried to glare at her but found himself quite unable to open his eyes fully. He was very grateful when she drew the curtains, though.

"Uh, I got water?" She said from beside him and Tala grunted, somehow hoping to communicate that he couldn't move till she removed Kai from on top of him. She sighed, placed something on the side table and crawled over their legs to Kai's side. The bed creaked under them and the redhead felt like screaming at it to shut up.

With some effort, Mariah managed to shift Kai away from Tala, then came back over to his side and supported his aching neck while he righted himself. Holding out the glass of water once he was upright, she questioned. "Aspirin?"

He nodded and she left the room only to return minutes later with the blessed drug. He popped it and chugged down the water in one. Two minutes of neck exercises later, he found himself capable of displaying normal human communicational mannerisms.

"Thank you.", he whispered to her and placed a light kiss on her cheek. She smiled.

"What the fuck happened to you once Ray left? You were downing rum like you were hoping to shut down a liver!"

Ray…

"I don't wanna talk about it Mariah, not right now at least."

"Oh? Only, he was wearing your shirt when he left and I… I just assumed…-"

"Yeah, you were wrong. Now can we please eat something before we talk about this? Who all is down there?"

"Just Michael and Queen… and Lee."

Tala shrugged. "Guess it is his house after all."

"We made pancakes and waffles. I ordered donuts too."

"Trying to fatten me up?"

"More like, woke up with such a bad taste in my mouth, I couldn't resist the idea of sugar. Should we wake him up?" She jutted her chin out towards Kai.

"Yeah, he did say he had somewhere to be today."

…

Half an hour later, the three of them plus Michael and Queen were sat around the kitchen table. The smell of smoke and alcohol still lingered, along with the disgusting, dull stench of puke left to fester overnight. Bottles, bongs, and other random items littered the floor and furniture. The only place they had bothered to clean up was the kitchen. Mariah had called in cleaners to help them with the tidying up later in the day before her parents returned that evening. Currently, they were all trying their best to ignore the mess around them. Kai was squinting at his phone since he hadn't got his spectacles, Michael and Queen were talking in dull groans and whispers and Mariah herself was shoveling donuts into her mouth. Lee was in the living room. Tala hadn't had to cross him, for which he was thankful.

After gobbling half a pancake and one donut, he felt a lot more talkative, and in the mood to vent.

Giving Queen a significant glance, which she easily interpreted as a call for some privacy, and left them alone to go for a swim, he dived into his tale from the night before.

When he was done with it, they were glancing at each other in apparent nervousness, not knowing what to say. Except for Kai, who folded his arms across his chest and sat back in his seat with a decisive frown. "He is clinically insane, obviously."

"No, no he isn't. Frankly, I don't like what a mess it would have become if we had actually slept together. When everything would have come out in the open he would obviously lose a lot of respect for me."

Kai gave him a bored glance. "That is not what I meant. It's the whole going back to Bryan thing. He's either mad or masochistic."

"Or maybe more loyal than both me and Bryan."

"Regardless,", Michael intervened, running a hand through his bangs. "How much longer will he take to realize Bryan isn't good for him? He needs to take his head out of his ass, really."

"Do you want me to talk to him, see if he's alright?", Mariah offered.

"Yeah, you do that. Don't mention me." Mariah, who had already been moving to get her phone, froze at that.

"Why not?"

Tala shrugged as nothing came to mind, except for the pain he felt at that blatant rejection the night before and how he couldn't actually stand anything like that again.

"What, you are giving up on him now?"

When in doubt, remain silent.

"Tala you can not!" Michael burst out. He seemed two seconds away from slamming his fists on the table too. Tala pressed his fingers against his temples.

"He made a decision last night when he left. The ball is in his court now. I am not giving up on him, as such. All I am saying is I am done chasing behind him. After last night, I can't keep pretending to be his friend when I want so much more and that is exactly what will end up happening if I go after him now."

"Bitch, how?! Ray knows you like him now!"

"He knew from the beginning, Michael. Keep up, for fuck's sake. And don't scream. My headache is coming back."

There was silence for a few beats and then Kai said, "So you're what? Throwing in the towel now? Was that all the game you had in you or is this about your swollen ego, Tala? Because you need to put that shit behind you. We're not sixteen anymore."

"This is hardly about my ego! I'll admit it wasn't the best feeling to be rejected like that but that's not what this is about. I have already made my move and it's his turn now. Chasing him would feel like forcing his hand and going back to him would be accepting his rejection and continuing to be 'friends', neither of which I can do now."

"That's the stupidest logic I have ever heard. You're the one with the feelings, you're the one who must do the chasing."

"Like your logic is any better?", Mariah intervened. "I agree with Tala, here. What is the point of the chase if the feelings aren't being reciprocated?"

"But Kon clearly reciprocates his feelings! Was I the only one who saw how he looked at him?!"

"No, Kai we all saw it! And that is exactly why he has to realize it on his own! Like it or not, we have to wait for Ray to come around and see things for himself now. Crowding him is only going to make him run away!"

"And what about his feelings? Does he just sit down and suck it up now because your little friend is a pussy ass bitch who doesn't _want_ to be treated right at all?!"

"No! What part of letting Ray make the next move sounds like abandoning the feelings on a whole to you?!"

"Every single bit!", their eyes were narrowed at each other now, jaws clenched and fists bunched up. "What if he never does anything? What then? If he never makes a move, do we just give it up?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there.", Mariah folded her arms over her chest. Her tone was offensively dismissive like she was talking to a child who's point was invalid and stupid.

Fun fact about Mariah and Kai: they had known each other the longest, and despite the very frequent fights and differences in opinions, they were actually pretty close. This also translated into the fact that when they fought, they went straight for the jugulars, every time. Kai's face went from detached to cold and Tala instead of getting mad about how these entitled pricks had somehow made this about themselves, could only exchange a nervous eye roll with Michael.

"No you won't. This stinking egomaniac would sit down on the very first step across that bridge and pout like a helpless three-year-old and you will be there to coo at him instead of trying to help him because you're just as much of a push-over. But I guess you had to be a special brand of spineless, to have stuck around in an emotionally and physically abusive relationship for three years."

Uh-oh. Bringing up Mariam was a no-no. Always had been.

In scary resemblance to Kai, Mariah's face grew just as icy and Michael reached out a hand to her, which was promptly smacked away.

"I was seventeen and I have learned my lesson since then, Kai. It seems you haven't though. You still think not taking a bloody hint and chasing behind people who will never in their lifetime look twice at you like a fucking lapdog is something that's _done, _don't you?"

Michael stiffened. Kai's jaw dropped open and Tala had the good sense to wrap his arms around Mariah and start hauling her out of Kai's reach.

Voices rose simultaneously, Kai and Mariah were hurling profanities at each other, Michael was trying to hold Kai back from lunging at the pink-haired girl while screaming in his face about how he needed to calm down. Tala was presently trying to shove Mariah out of the door while shouting at her to stop shouting. It was rather futile and only added to the cacophony but it made him feel like he was doing something.

It took about twenty minutes to get Mariah to her room and Kai to Tala's car so they would leave each other in peace. Michael decided to drive to the flat with Kai and Tala offered to stay back, check up on Mariah and collect their belongings.

Having found Queen and thrown her in to help calm Mariah down, Tala made his way back to the kitchen. He needed another Aspirin. He knew it wasn't safe to mix too much of it with the alcohol in his system from last night, but the screaming match had kicked his headache back in full gear. He would never survive the day if he didn't do something about it. Something other than clawing his brains out, which was his first instinct right now.

Fifteen minutes later, and he had only succeeded in finding something even more unsettling, aka Lee Wong.

When Lee had walked into the kitchen, Tala was basically hanging out of a cupboard, with his head and arms stuck inside and his body balanced on his toes while he rummaged around for the bloody drug. That's why he never noticed his entrance. When he did resurface, the older Wong was leaning against the countertop and making his way through a donut with a very, very disturbingly feline grin on his face.

A girl in school had once commented being checked out by Mariah sometimes felt akin to being eye-raped, not because her expression was ever unpleasant, but because the Wongs were blessed with particularly piercing hazel eyes. Now that he had a pair trained on him, Tala knew exactly what she had meant.

Despite that, he faced even vivider golden and red pairs almost daily. To say he had thick skin, was something of an understatement.

Cocking a nonchalant brow, he huffed out, "Won't know where you keep the Aspirin, would you?"

Lee's grin sharpened, somehow.

"You look a lot different with your hair tied up."

"I wonder why." Tala rolled his eyes.

"Different enough for me to recall where I know you from."

Shaking his head exaggeratedly, he stage whispered, "Years of being friends with Mariah, I'd bet?"

Only getting more amused, Lee chuckled. "How long have you and Ray been together?"

Feeling a sense of doom settle in the pit of his stomach at the abrupt and rather pointed change of topic, his expression quickly switched into a frown. "What the hell does that matter to you?"

"Only he said it had been quite a while, the better part of the year or so. Lucky, you. Have no idea what I'd do to get back into that."

He felt a growl build up in the back of his throat. "Don't speak of him as if he is some sex toy."

A bushy black brow crawled up Lee's forehead like a hairy little bug and Tala decided people should practice raising brows in mirrors every day before subjecting others to their pathetic attempts.

"Like you are any better? I was being stupid back then and I screwed it all up." Theatrically, Lee started stalking closer to Tala. The redhead would laugh if only to piss the other man off, but something told him he was better off keeping his mouth shut now. "But guess what I NEVER did, Red? Even I had the decency to not stick it in random dudes while he was home waiting for me."

His head was throbbing, and his heart following. A shiver started along the base of his spine and crawled up to his shoulder blades. He felt his countenance freeze in what could loosely be described as a poker face. Side-effects of being friends with Kai for so long.

"What the fuck do you mean?"

Hazel eyes remained trained onto his. "Fear, if you can't see it on his face, you will read it in his eyes." Lee dropped his grin and stepped back, hand going to fiddle in his pocket. He retrieved his cell phone, stabbed the screen with his thumb a few times and offered it to Tala.

He recognized the faint sounds emerging from the device before his eyes even encountered the images being displayed. A dismayed groan froze in his chest as he was brought face to face with how rabid they had looked fucking in the open that night.

Tala couldn't help the hand that rose and ran through his fringe as a variety of scenarios about how Ray would react to this clip ran through his mind. It'd completely shatter the man. His mind didn't even register when he lunged to snatch the phone from Lee's hand, who jumped away with a spry leap and a Cheshire grin, putting a good few feet between them. He was almost at the threshold now.

"You really think I would be stupid enough to not back this baby up? Have to say though, you have good taste, man."

"Make a habit of recording people's sex lives, do you?"

"Only when they are being displayed for me to see in my own fucking yard."

He felt his fingers twitch. "What do you want, Lee?"

"What do I want? Oh, silly kid. You aren't paying attention, are you? I am offering _you _something, a chance that is. To end things with Ray, on your terms. Can't imagine how it'd break him to have to see this. In short, get out of my way on your own or I will bloody throw you out myself."

…

Tala barged into Mariah's room with his eyes narrowed in fury. After having said his piece, Lee stalked out of the kitchen and he was left standing there wondering why everything had suddenly crashed down around him.

Now, as he theatrically threw the door open and stomped in like a petulant child, his anger levels only climbed higher. There was only one solution to his problem right now, namely, the problem's sister.

"We are in major trouble." He announced. Queen quirked a brow and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the girl sitting on her lap.

"I suppose planning a funeral does qualify as trouble.", Mariah remarked casually, as she continued stabbing Kai's photograph with a sewing pin.

Sighing, Queen covered her hands with her own and drew them apart, so she could no longer sabotage the picture, which was already beyond the point of saving. Well, sad. It was a really nice picture too.

"Mariah, look up and listen to me or else there will be a funeral and it won't be Kai's."

"Are you threatening me, Ivanov?!"

Before Tala could formulate a response, Mariah was grabbed by the waist and flipped down on her back by her now mildly pissed looking girlfriend. "You need to stop now. This is becoming childish of you."

Well, Queen didn't talk a lot but she sure could get her point across.

An intense staring competition then ensued and Tala told himself it had a point, all to avoid snapping and bashing their heads together. After two minutes, the girls straightened, with Mariah looking a little less put out than before. Had Queen promised hot, wild sex in their little eye-to-eye? He didn't care.

"Lee has video of me and Bryan."

"What video?", Queen asked.

If there was a complicated set of expressions designated to explain the video in question was homemade porn, Tala didn't know but he figured his grimaces must be close, for within ten seconds the girls had understood and were appropriately panicking.

"Where did he get it?"

Tala answered that with a non-committal shrug. Mariah rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure he wasn't bluffing?"

"He showed it to me. Told me he backed it up and everything too."

"Do you know if he's sent it to people?"

"I don't know and I don't care, Mariah! He threatened to show it to Ray if I don't 'break up' with him."

"That asshole.", Queen muttered.

Stomping on the urge to start pacing and ranting, he forced himself to walk towards the window and push it open, hoping for a breath of fresh air. What he encountered was a clear view of the pool, and was simultaneously assaulted by the memories attached to it. The emotions he had felt last night, he would do anything to feel again, and he would make sure he didn't let Ray run away this time.

"You have to come clean to him."

He turned to find Mariah glowering at him. His own features scrunched up into a scowl.

"Don't you see? There is no other safe alternative! This has gone on for far too long, Tala and it needs to end NOW."

"I know and I will, but this is not the right time for that! We need to be focussing on dealing with your brother for god's sake!"

Taking a deep breath, Mariah made an effort to erase the aggression from her features. "Leave that to me. You go home, for now."

"Excuse me?"

"I am not in the mood here, Ivanov. I will find a way to deal with Lee but you need to get out of my sight and think about what you will do next. It's about time you paused and thought about this mess you have made."

He wasn't a fan of that idea, mostly because he wasn't a huge fan of thinking about his muck-ups in the first place (if he did, it won't have got to this point at all). This was exactly what the pink-haired girl in front of him had warned him against, so he didn't really have a lot of ground left to stand on. Waving a resigned farewell, he went to go hunt for his phone and shoes.

…

The drive back was unpleasant, to say the least as he fully realized the consequences of Ray watching that video. The more he dwelled on it, the more hopeless the situation seemed to become. He couldn't actually help it, could he? He couldn't break up with a man he never dated. He couldn't give Lee what he wanted and judging by Ray's behavior last night, he wasn't going to dump Bryan. When Lee found out who Ray was actually dating, it would change nothing since Bryan was in the video too. So no matter what he did, the outcome would remain the same.

The only solution was to change Lee's mind, which he had no idea how he'd go about doing.

Once again, he was left to depend on his friends to sort out his mess for him. Well, Mariah did say she'd deal with it. All he had to do was figure out how to deal with Ray himself now.

But with everything that was going on how could he ever face him again? He had put him in a severely risky position after swearing to all gods above and below that he would make sure nobody hurt him ever again all because he had no brains and an excess of testosterone.

As his eyes rose to the clock, Tala felt his temper sky-rocket again. Bryan had left the house god knew when in the night and hadn't bothered texting him at all. Even after all traces of a relationship disappeared from their lives, they made sure to be in-tune with each other's schedules for the sake of the dogs. Right now it was nearing two in the afternoon and Tala had no idea how long they had been alone if they had been given breakfast in the morning or taken out for a walk and with everything put together, it was annoying the shit out of him.

He had just about finished packing his bags up. They stood by the door as he sat waiting on the couch. His own house wasn't fully furnished yet, but his room was ready, along with one bathroom, which Kai had had the foresight to furnish first, in case he needed to move out in an emergency. He decided he could make do with that, he just couldn't stay with Bryan at all.

After about half an hour of idle waiting, Tala felt a small shudder make its way through his body as the lock turned and the door was swung open. The familiar figure of Bryan made through.

The first thing those bright eyes locked on to were the suitcases, then Tala, and without a care in the world, Bryan moved to dump his keys and take off his jacket.

Feeling like a fool for expecting anything else in the way of a reaction, Tala rubbed his palms together and poked his cheek with his tongue. "So… we're over."

A dry chuckle followed his announcement. "Honey, we have been over for quite a while now."

It was weird how energy came and went sometimes for _that_ pissed him off.

"Oh yeah, when did that happen? When we stopped fucking or when you started fucking him? Because you know, I am confused." Tala scoffed and had the intense pleasure of watching Bryan's shoulders stiffen. He opened his mouth, supposedly to ask a question, but Tala cut him off.

"Don't ask me how I know. It's irrelevant. I have known long enough since before we had sex last time. What else did you think I was pissed about?"

He enjoyed how the center of power shifted so quickly and Bryan was the one left feeling wrong-footed all of a sudden. Licking his lips in nervousness, he dropped down on the couch next to Tala.

"Why did you…"

"Stick around, then? I wish I could say it was because I was waiting for you to do the right thing and tell me, but I knew you weren't going to. I stayed because I was looking for a way to take revenge on you, fishing around for a great big plan. I guess I just got too comfortable over time. This was good what we had and I just…-" He ran out of bullshit to spew. Couldn't actually tell him why he stayed now could he?

"Why end it now, then?"

"I found someone."

A small, unsure smile made its way on to Bryan's lips. "I don't know how I feel about that."

"Good thing it doesn't really matter, huh?"

An expecting pause grew and they both found themselves entirely incapable of wrapping their heads around the absurdity of this situation. They weren't mad at each other, they were feeling a whole lot of… nothing. It was even more confusing on Tala's end because shouldn't he be enraged now that he finally got to confront Bryan about this? He guessed all this time of knowing the truth had sucked out the righteous anger and replaced it with relief, that he didn't have to pretend anymore. If anything, he felt lighter than ever.

"I have to admit, this is not how I imagined this conversation would go." Bryan broke the silence first.

"So you did think about leaving me, at some point."

Bryan's eyes narrowed and Tala enjoyed the tension crawling back up his frame. "Yes, because I won't leave him. I am in love with him."

"Are you?"

There wasn't a second of hesitation. "Yes."

"Why not dump me then? I thought maybe you were confused and didn't want to decide but if that's not the case why not just leave me and be done with it? I would have understood Bryan you know that. So why in hell did you have to insult me like this?"

Bryan exhaled and linked his fingers together. He had a humongous frown sat upon his brow, and he suddenly seemed exhausted. "I needed you. He didn't let me touch him until very recently."

A jolt of shock ran through Tala. _Very recently? _How recently? Had Ray crawled back to Bryan and had him finish the job last night? How far had they gone? Ray never mentioned anything happening after he gave Bryan a blow. Was that what this jerk was talking about? A million questions raced through his head and he found his fists clenching in annoyance.

"So you kept me around for dick. And what about him?"

"I think things are better now and…-"

"That's not what I meant." He couldn't bear to hear about Ray being together with this bastard. "How can you sit here and say it to my face that you love him when you've been willingly cheating on him all this while all because he _won't put out?_"

Bryan started to come up with some sort of defense but Tala wasn't done yet. "Does he know about this? Couldn't you have talked to him if this lack of sex was such a huge issue for you? Did you tell him you're still sleeping with me? Or is he sitting at home thinking his loving and caring boyfriend waited for him?"

A slight growl reached his ears. "You keep your nose out of this Tala. I don't need to explain anything to you."

He sat back. "Oh, I think you do. You have a lot of explaining to do. Tell me what sort of love is it that lets you think it's okay to go and fuck other people behind your partner's back because this makes me question everything…-"

"There weren't no _people,_ Jesus! It was just you, singular. Don't make me sound like a whore!-"

"Were there others between us? Did you crawl into pubs and suck random cocks every time I wasn't in the mood? Will you find somebody else to fuck now that I am not available? Because seriously Bryan, don't say you're in love with him when you can't even be loyal to him. He just has your attention now and once you grow bored of him like how you grew bored of me you will find another somebody to 'fall in love with', somebody you 'won't leave', somebody who would replace him and make him another Tala. Do NOT say you love him. You don't know what love is."

…

Two hours later, Tala was still sitting exactly where he had been when Bryan came in, with a busted lip and a painfully sprained ankle. Bryan had become super angry super fast after that. Looking back, Tala knew it was obvious they were going to come to blows so he shouldn't have been surprised, but he was unwilling to shoulder any blame whatsoever. It was Bryan who landed the first punch and as is obvious from that little rant, Tala wasn't quite as over the bastard's betrayal as he thought either.

A pull on his shoulders snapped his attention and he looked up at Kai, who was currently supporting most of Tala's weight as he tried to carry him out of the door and into his car. The redhead had originally thought he broke his foot and didn't know how to go about moving it so he called Kai.

The Russian had already taken his bags and his pups, and was currently trying his best to not huff and puff or let any signs of general discomfort escape him as he half-carried Tala downstairs. The Lee situation, the Bryan situation and everything he had missed out on had been broken down for the slate-haired man who in turn informed Tala Ray sounded fine when Mariah called (apparently she did it in front of Kai after they made up [?]). He told her not to worry, that he was just nursing a bad hangover at home and that everything was perfectly alright.

Tala debated whether he should tell Kai about his new-found suspicions of Ray and Bryan having done it together, but found himself disinclined to put those despicable words together. He just shrugged when Kai asked if anything else had happened.

The next morning saw the redhead giving in to the urge to pace his worries away, even on a less-than-healthy foot but it seemed to be working some tension out of his system so Kai let him keep at it. He reached to call Ray multiple times that day, but remembered the excruciating sensations of rejection and pulled back. He won't call him. He would wait for him to make a move.

By the time the two friends went to bed, Tala had ended up taking down all his pictures with Bryan and sending Ray a follow request on Instagram.

He woke up to texts from Lee demanding he sped up whatever it was the older Wong had assumed he was doing. He also realized that the request had been denied that night.

…

On his third day at Kai's, Bryan came by to drop a few things of Tala's he had left at their place. He was sporting an impressive set of hickeys visible all over his neck. Tala barely kept himself from tearing the bruised skin off of his body.

…

By the end of the week, he was told Lee had been dealt with. Apparently, Kevin was enough of a dude-bro to Lee for them to share passwords, but also enough of a decent human to help Mariah when she asked. Or maybe she held him at knifepoint, they weren't really sure.

…

Days grew hectic as the shifting began. Countless shopping trips, a shit-load of bickering and many long days ending in pizza and beer, went into making the house Tala's dream space. All through the habit of checking his phone every fifteen minutes never shifted. There were no texts or calls from Ray, and he never picked up when Tala grew the balls to call in a drunken stupor one night.

These days he was never truly alone, somebody was always at his side. Somehow even as responsibilities piled on top of each one of them, they made time to see each other frequently enough one would assume they were still high-schoolers. Kai had recently met a cute American boy he won't tell them anything else about and was 'hanging out' quite a lot with him. Mariah had started a new job downtown. Michael was gunning to throw a huge _something_ (he just couldn't figure out what) for his first anniversary with his girlfriend Emily. Tala himself was busy with the move and all the registrations that came along with it. Yet, somehow they saw each other regularly and it was a huge source of comfort to the redhead.

All that pleasantness aside, there was an empty space in his life that Ray and Bryan had previously occupied. For the last few months, his life had been a whirlwind of emotions, first with the anger and hurt because of Bryan, then the sweet breathlessness of the onslaught of feelings Ray made him feel, the bitter pain of rejection and the final little spat with Bryan. Hell, even the brief terror Lee instilled in his mind was more fulfilling than this lack of… everything.

He had never known that lack of action could feel this heavy. All those times he had read dorky quotes on the internet about silence sounding loud and now that it was his turn to experience it, he felt it was deafening. It was like everything had hitched to a stop and he didn't know how to un-pause his world now.

"You really should call him.", Kai told him one night when they all sat sipping beer in his yard, two weeks after Mariah's party. To his surprise, the pinkette nodded in agreement.

"I did, remember? He didn't pick up."

"Don't act like you don't have any way of approaching him whatsoever." He rolled his eyes.

"Look, before you start saying this is about my ego, it's not. I was and still am angry and…" he had to swallow before he could get the word past "_hurt_ but I am not childish enough to give up on a good thing because of that. I really do not want to pressure him anymore. If he wants to, he will contact me. I have done enough damage as it is."

"You are missing him.", Michael stated.

He refrained from giving them another eye roll. "Yes, thank you. I thought that was obvious…-"

"I don't think you got what I meant, mate. You are _missing_ him."

Tala frowned but his message tone interrupted him. He fished the device out from where it was half-buried under his butt.

_One new text message from Ray Kon._

His heart picked up a loud hammering pace in his chest and his brain cells fizzled away. In an unprecedented panic, he stuffed the phone down his pocket. With his mouth hanging open and his eyes blown wide, he turned to face his friends. "Fuck."

"What happened?" Kai questioned in a vaguely worried and clearly amused tone.

He could feel his jaw move, but words weren't coming out, only short, quick, and frankly melodramatic gasps.

"Was that Kon?"

"How do you know?"

Kai smirked. "I have my ways."

"Wait, what is going on?" Mariah demanded. "More importantly, why aren't you reading that?"

"Good question." He made no move to retrieve the phone from his pocket.

"Oh, we have no time for this!" Mariah stood up from her chair and came over to Tala, roughly thrusting a hand in his pocket and shoving the device in his hands again.

"Read it!", Michael urged.

With shaking fingers (why were they shaking again? This wasn't a big deal. He was cool.) he slid open the chat.

_"__I don't know if you have used black magic on me because I won't put it past you but if I don't see you right now I will end up shooting someone in the head."_

What he could feel was an extremely dopey grin made its way onto his face. "Guys, I gotta go."

…

All nervousness had escaped his system as Tala excitedly knocked on Ray's door. He needed to be at his most charming for the guy. This could make or break the deal and he would be damned if it broke it.

The door was pulled open to reveal a bleary eyes Ray in sweatpants and… Tala's shirt.

All sleep rushed out of Ray's features the moment his eyes registered who stood on his doorstep. As he saw Tala take in his outfit, conscious hands rose to fist the shirt he didn't own and a slight blush tinted his shocked face.

"I didn't think you'd actually come." He said, by way of explanation.

Could a very commonly deep and rusty voice with no remarkable lilt or grace actually soothe you? Because Tala didn't trust the things Ray's voice did to his heart.

With a smirk, he stepped into the house, shutting the door behind him. "Well, orange really isn't a good color on you."

A grudgingly surprised chuckle escaped the smaller man. His eyelids swooped low and just when Tala thought he might faint, he threw himself at the Russian, securing his arms tight around his neck and drawing them both impossibly close. With a sigh of relief, Tala's own arms wrapped themselves around Ray's waist, his eyes closing by their own accord.

And whatever Gods controlled Tala Ivanov's life, finally hit un-pause.

**Remember to review, people!**


	6. Chapter 6

**All I can say is, poor Ray. :(**

**P.S. I finished this a couple of days ago, it just needed to be edited. However, I just got home and I am too exhausted to actually read through this. Please excuse the mistakes. **

"How have you been?", Ray whispered softly against Tala's neck. He seemed unwilling to loosen his hold on the redhead's neck.

He smiled, the Chinese man's vanilla scent and soft touch all but overwhelming him, and regretfully pulled away. The urge to look at Ray's face was too strong, eyes taking in the familiarly angled features and thin lips.

"Not quite alright but I will get there now, it seems."

Ray mirrored the curve of his lips. His fingers lifted and dusted across Tala's cheekbone, followed in quick succession by his lips. Tala's own tightened on his hips.

The Chinese's lips felt cold against his skin and he shivered. Their soft flutter against his skin made his fingertips tingle.

However, flashbacks of the last time they had stood together like that assaulted Tala's mind and, instinctively, he tried to step back. Ray's hands latched on to his arms.

"I dumped Bryan." he confessed into the crevice of Tala's neck, pulling him closer and drawing his arms back around his waist. The two felt shivers climb up their spines, the more entangled their limbs became. Unable to find another excuse to deprive himself of his partner's touch, Tala's hands groped Ray's sides, pushing him towards the wall and crowding him against it, their lips devouring each other's in a mad frenzy.

Ray moaned and his fingers softly sifted through and latched on to the scarlet strands, pulling his partner that much closer. His lips parted and Tala's tongue reached out to prod the soft wetness of his mouth. The shorter man met him… well, tongue for tongue as he took to massaging the back of Tala's neck.

They remained blissfully unaware of the world around them for a couple of minutes, before parting, breathless and blushing. They grinned at each other not bothering to step back and unwilling to shatter the silence with words, not like they could think of ways to put their feelings into words just then anyway.

"So, uh…", Tala started, saw he had nothing to say and clamped his jaws shut. He hadn't realized how awkward this was going to be. Truth be told, he had completely lost all hope that he would ever get to see Ray again, much less hold him and kiss him like this. So now that he was completely overwhelmed, his mind was misfiring on him and making it impossible to think.

Thankfully, for somebody who had been half-asleep minutes ago, Ray was feeling very articulate.

"Your self-image is rather blown out of proportion, isn't it?" He leaned his head to the side. "You are not half as charming as you think you are.", he chuckled.

"You bring out all sorts of different sides of me that I never knew existed. Way to go shirking responsibility, kitty-cat.", Tala smirked.

Ray leaned up and nipped at the tip of Tala's nose. "No, I am starting to think you are out of touch. Need a buffer period."

Tala returned the little bite on Ray's ear. "You give yourself far too little credit, baby."

The nickname made Ray's eyes warm and he brushed a kiss against Tala's knuckles before stepping away. "Come on I'll introduce you to Sky and Nala Kon."

Tala raised a brow and skipped ahead to grab on to Ray's fingers, with excitement churning in the pit of his stomach. Not because he was about to meet his cats (though it felt very much like an honor if he was honest with himself), but because being in his presence naturally had him grinning from ear to ear.

"I gave my pups my name too. It seems we'll get along well."

Ray raised a brow and scoffed. "I just dumped my boyfriend, Tala. I hope to God you're not still unsure of how well we get along."

Tala tugged Ray to a stop and gave him a bruising kiss, unable to get enough of these new-found liberties. When they parted, he whispered breathlessly, "Does it look like I'm unsure?"

Ray smiled.

Giddy, the two stepped into Ray's cluttered living room. The man seemed to hate minimalism as an aesthetic. His presence was obvious everywhere in the house, in the book inverted on the armrest of the sofa or the empty mugs on the center table, the rows of frames hanging along the walls, or the keys, laptop and loose t-shirts thrown haphazardly across various pieces of furniture. Right in the middle of the sofa, cuddling into a fluffy yellow animal cushion was a large and rather moody looking tabby, who pinned Tala with her grey eyes as soon as the tall redhead entered. If she were a girl, Tala would have expected her to raise an imperious brow and flip her hair over her shoulder.

Ray picked her up and held her out to the now nervous-looking Russian. "Careful, she can smell fear.", he warned.

Tala reached out a hand to stroke the cat between her ears. He wasn't a cat person, necessarily, but Kai's blues had never given him such a hateful look before. "I am guessing this is Nala."

"The one and only." Mercifully, Ray put her down again. She immediately stalked off to curl up to her pillow again.

"Well, to find Sky now." Ray mentioned, before turning away. Tala followed with a sheepish frown.

"Are you trying to distract me? What are you trying to distract me from?"

"I… uh… I don't know. I am just, I don't know what we are supposed to be doing." Ray crossed the threshold to the kitchen.

"I am good to make out some more."

Ray gave him a withering glance over his shoulder.

"Or, we could, like, talk." Tala raised his hands, palms up before stepping closer to him. Placing a hand on his lower back he guided Ray to step closer to him. If anything, the shorter man made a convenient chin rest, an opportunity the redhead promptly exploited.

"What's bothering you?"

Gently, Ray lead Tala to climb up and sit on the countertop, looping his arms around his waist and settling himself comfortably against the redhead's shoulder. The position in which he stood in made his butt jut out but Tala refrained from making a comment about it, instead saying, "You seem awfully comfortable." His fingers worked to smooth through Ray's wavy locks, tucking them behind his ears and then pulling them out.

Ray poked his stomach. "Blame the pudge."

Tala felt a gasp leave his mouth. "There is no pudge!"

The Chinese man's chest vibrated with a chuckle and Tala laid a kiss atop his head. "There really isn't any pudge.", he insisted.

"Well, I'd do you anyway with or without it."

"Excuse you, who says you'd get to?"

Ray chuckled again. "Oh woe. Whatever am I gonna do with all my libido now?" He wiggled his hips, causing his sides to brush against Tala's knees making the redhead snicker and grab on to his shoulders to steady him. Leaning up, Ray snuggled into Tala's neck, making him peck his forehead and hair.

A soft meow interrupted their nuzzling and they turned to see a grey Maine-coon staring at them from the opposite end of the counter-top. Ray glared back at his cat while Tala remained clutching his head.

After a few seconds, the kitty decided the humans weren't worth her while and settled down to imperiously lick her own paws. Ray rolled his eyes and pulled Tala off the countertop.

"Apparently Sky doesn't approve of PDA in the kitchen." He called out as he led Tala through another door and into his bedroom. "Nor does she approve of you."

"It's alright. I am good with the one cat that adores me."

Ray flipped him off while settling himself leg over the other on the corner of his king-sized bed, which took up almost all the space in his moderate-sized bedroom. A cluttered worktop stood in one end, which was a complete mess of sketches, outlines, re-draws, paints, and brushes. It seemed he had recently been working on something. In the other corner, a bedside table stood, similarly crowded by magazines and other tad-bits that definitely didn't take priority over a fucking dresser, which the crazy man did not seem to have in his room.

"Well, no kitchen sex for us in the future then?", Tala winked while moving towards the table, curious as to why the fuck Ray didn't keep this in his workroom, which he OUGHT to have because no way in hell were these all the supplies required by a moderately successful artist.

"Hmmm, I don't know. I can con Max into babysitting for them some evenings."

Tala's snicker caught in his throat as his eyes found the canvas laid out carefully over newspapers, off to the side. For a second, he forgot how words worked or that he had to pay attention to his partner when they talked. He remained rooted where he was, eyes scraping over the detailed portrait of himself. Ray must have taken inspiration from the night in Mariah's pool because his hair was down around his face and there were glistening water droplet details in his hair. The portrait ended on his bare collarbones and captured the triangle of freckles at the base of his throat with careful precision. His eyes were lidded as his intense gaze lay on the viewer, head tilted and a faint smile playing on his lips.

It was the expression, out of all things, that made Tala halt in his footsteps. He hadn't realized the amount of desire his face displayed that night, nor did he realize how desirable Ray perceived him as. He had read somewhere that a picture was less of a depiction of the object, and more of a reflection of the artist's perception of it, and if this was how Ray perceived him, he couldn't ask for more. Apart from the meticulous attention to detail, Tala felt embarrassed to admit how _attracted_ he was to this picture of himself. It was like Ray had taken all the finer qualities of his character, and displayed them on to this canvas because this man seemed way better of a person than Tala could ever hope to be and he felt flattered to know that was how Ray saw him.

Being so caught up in the painting he never noticed Ray next to him till he put his arms around the redhead's waist.

"Do you like it?"

_Like_ was a weak word for how touched Tala was right then.

"Nobody has ever done something like this for me before."

"If that's your way of telling me I'm in a league all of my own then I'd like to say, I'm aware."

Unable to help the full belly laugh that escaped him, Tala shook his head and turned around in Ray's arms. "Yes, that's exactly what I am saying."

Gently he lay his lips over Ray's, kissing him languidly, tangling their fingers together and ceasing to care about the world spinning around them. Shallow breaths caressing tingling lips, they parted only for the mere seconds it took Tala to drag Ray to the bed and throw him down on it before he climbed in beside him and they resumed their rapidly heating make out session. Tala wasn't sure how many boundaries Ray was comfortable with him crossing, though so he kept his hands on the previously established safe territory of his torso, and did his damnedest to keep pace with his partner.

Ray, however, had no such concerns.

His fingers worked on the buttons of Tala's shirt, quickly pulling it open and laying his hands over the Russian's pale torso. Tala lifted his shoulders, allowing for Ray to slip it down his arms and throw it off to the corner of the room. He ducked his head down to kiss moist trails across Tala's collarbones and the redhead threw his head back, giving him full access to his neck. If that wasn't hint enough that he greatly appreciated Ray's ministrations, he did not know what would be.

Grabbing onto the shorter man's slim waist he pulled their bodies completely flush against each other, warmth spreading in his groins and making him chase every touch of the artist's that he could find. Their fingers threaded together as Ray pinched and stroked his nipples with his free hand, mouth otherwise occupied on the base of Tala's throat.

Lazily, Ray drew Tala's hand to his body and laid it to fully cover his half-hard dick from over his sweatpants. Motivated by this obvious sign of Ray's willingness to go further, Tala hooked his fingers into the hem of his pants and stopped to lay a gentle kiss to his temple before hooking them down.

Ray sat up to facilitate the removal of the garment before giving himself two hard pumps through his boxers. "I don't know if I wanna go full way yet…", he warned Tala, before drawing his underwear off his legs.

Tala felt a grin ghost across his lips and he pulled Ray's face down for an assuring kiss. "Stop me whenever you feel like it.", he whispered before his eyes brushed down to take in all the skin peeking out through the fabric of Tala's dark blue shirt fluttering down his tanned thighs.

Ray was smaller than him, he noticed with a cocky mental nod of the head, but also quite thicker so he didn't mention it. Instead, he moved forward to press him down onto the mattress and hover over him, lifting his shirt to bunch underneath his armpits. He leaned down to kiss Ray's abs and trail his fingers down his sides. Ray's hands lifted to unbutton his shirt but just as he was about to push it off his shoulders, Tala grabbed a hold of his wrists and pinned them away.

"You keep that on."

There was something incredibly sexual about Ray just laying there with his rapidly darkening eyes, and softly rising chest, covered in a delicious sheen of sweat wearing _just_ his shirt, and that too, barely.

Ray licked his lips and arched up to meet Tala for another breathtaking kiss. The redhead went back to swiping his hands down Ray's sides before grabbing a hold of the base of his cock. Moving lower over his body, Tala lifted Ray's hips and nipped sharply at his butt. The Chinese man laughed incredulously.

"You really are a fucking dog."

"Woof!", Tala grinned. Licking the tingling indentions, he dug his teeth back in with a little more pressure. Ray hissed and his hands fisted in Tala's hair but he made no move to pull his head away, so Tala went in to suck at the abused skin.

Could you leave a hickey on someone's butt?

Busy with his feast and pleasantly distracted by Ray's soft groans, he didn't register the click of the front door, or the very obvious footsteps falling outside the room. He didn't register the presence in the doorway and perhaps that millisecond of delay was what ultimately ruined everything again.

A scoff drew their attention to their audience. "You moved on fast, Kon."

Tala tore away from Ray and his eyes found Bryan's. Cerulean blue and jade green blew out in sync and before he knew, Bryan was barging into the room, grabbing a hold of his jaw and fixing to punch his daylights out.

"No! Stop!"

His face still being uncomfortably squeezed in Bryan's hell grip, Tala saw Ray latch onto his, no, _their _ex's other hand with all his might, successfully stopping Bryan's attack.

"What are you even doing here?!", he shrieked.

By this time, Tala had gained enough of his bearings to pull out of Bryan's hold.

"Him?! Really?! He is who you dumped me for?!" Bryan was positively frothing at the mouth and with a snarl that should legally be reserved for four-legged creatures residing deep, deep within the forest, he pushed Ray back down on to the bed.

"Look at you! Whoring yourself out to him the moment my back is turned! 'I am not comfortable with sex right now, Bryan. I need time.'" He mocked cruelly, in a high-pitched voice. Tala saw Ray cringe at that and immediately went to his side, pulling the shaking man into his arms.

"Get the fuck out of here, you fucking cunt!", Tala had never screeched at anyone in that sort of voice before, and had he been in his senses, he would have stopped and cringed. However, right now he was livid... and terrified.

Bryan's animalistic green eyes narrowed down at him. "How could you, Ivanov?! How could you come in here and ruin the single-most amazing thing of my entire life?!"

Tala wanted to point out he didn't look particularly sad, just majorly offended but he didn't need the entire affair displayed in front of Ray like this. He absolutely did not need to feel used again. He had had enough of that with Lee already and Tala knew that if the truth came out, that was exactly how he would feel.

"Bryan, you need to leave or I'll call the cops.", he said shakily.

"Oh call whoever the fuck you want to call, asshole! I am not leaving before getting some good answers out of _him_!" With a savage growl, he pulled on Ray's arm, dragging him off the bed and back into his side. Ray hissed and Tala saw him dig his nails into Bryan's wrist till a single bright rivulet of red flowed down the white skin of his arm.

"So?! What was the deal?! What does he have that I didn't?!", he swung Ray's arm from side to side till the shorter man gave a growl of his own and slapped Bryan across the face. As his hand flew to his cheek, Ray stepped back immediately zooming in on his discarded pants and tugging them up his legs before turning to face the stunned Russian again.

It didn't look like it had ever occurred to Bryan that Ray would raise a hand to him.

"I absolutely do not owe you any answers you piece of trash! How you've treated me all this time is fucking disgusting! We were bound to end at some point, it has nothing to do with him except he sped the process up a little by showing me how vastly differently somebody who actually cares about me would behave!"

Bryan's features twisted into a bitter grin. "Oh? Care?" He licked his lips. "Did you just say he cared about you? And I didn't?" A dry chuckle escaped his throat.

"Bryan, don't do this." Unbeknownst to him, Tala's tone had gone from commanding to pleading as he stepped closer to Bryan, who simply ran a soft finger down his cheek.

"Oh baby, shush. But then you always were a better liar than me."

"He doesn't deserve this, none of it is his fault!"

"Well, I can definitely see why he thinks you care."

"What do you mean?", Ray called out. His arms were crossed over his chest and his tone was guarded. When he glanced at Tala, it was with the same amount of detachment that he first did in that bar. Tala felt a shiver run down his back.

"It's nothing, Ray." Tears were slipping down his cheeks now, which sucked because he'd sworn he would never cry in front of Bryan again.

"Isn't that… your shirt?", Bryan huffed out a laugh. "That's the shirt you wore to that gangrene-infested slut's party! Wow." He shook his head.

"What the fuck is happening right now?", Ray questioned.

"Patience, my love. You tell me. How long have you known Tala here?"

"How do you know each other?"

"I'd hazard a guess roughly around the time I told you to quit working at that piss shop."

Tala's eyes met Ray's and he didn't like what he saw there.

Reading the truth in Ray's injured expression, Bryan turned to Tala. "Well, I have to give you credit for speed. Tell me, what was the secret? How did you get him to spread his legs so fast?"

"Don't talk about him like that."

"Hey, are you making demands now? Tal, can't you see, the ball's outta your court now, but you won in the end so…", Bryan shrugged and turned back to watch Ray's expression turn more anxious.

"What did he win?", Ray interrupted and Tala felt his heart was about to jump right out of his chest.

"This little game of ours. You were the challenge, and the prize, and that is just how far his 'care' for you goes."

Eyes wide and mouth open, Ray turned to Tala just as the redhead let out a vehement denial.

"What the hell is he saying?" The mask was cracking now. There were tears pooling in those bright golden eyes, tears that froze and formed into sharp little glass shards presently plunging into the redhead's chest.

"It's not true. You are the most important person in my life right now, I swear to you Ray."

"Yes, because showing up people is just that important to you isn't it?"

"Do NOT twist my words, you bastard!" He turned and moved towards Ray frantically, only to have him pull away. "Ray, listen to me, he's just manipulating you. He's mad at me and trying to destroy us, babe…-"

"Just like what you did to us? You see Ray, he had his reasons for why he grew closer to you, lead you on to think he cared and all that fancy stuff, which he never did. I'd bet my life he doesn't give a shit about you."

"Stop talking around, get to the fucking point!", Ray hissed.

"I had been with him for a year and a half already when I fell in love with you but you weren't putting out and I had needs, okay? So I kept him around. And he found out, apparently. You're smart enough, you can see how it goes, can't you?"

Ray gasped shortly as if somebody had punched him in the face. "You were cheating on me?"

With a cruel smile, Bryan nodded exaggeratedly. "And when he found out he probably said, I'll make Ray cheat on Bryan with me to get even, and here we are. All made possible because your emotions are flaky like a child's and you're a whore for attention, obviously."

Ray's eyes remained trained on Tala in silent question. The Russian shook his head but was unable to spit a word in denial. How could he? How could he lie to Ray's face like that? Admittedly, his motives had changed mid-step but his intention was what Bryan had stated. As difficult and guilt wracking as it was to simply hide the truth from Ray, actually throwing a white lie in his face, even if it was for his own good, was something Tala was positive would absolutely break his spirit.

So he said nothing, merely shook his head, as if trying to make Ray read the sincerity of his emotions in his eyes.

A chuckle drew their attention away from each other.

"Can't deny that, can you?", Bryan grinned. "Go on, tell him if I'm lying. Didn't you approach him first all because you wanted to use him to get revenge on me?"

Feeling a jolt of fear halt his racing heart, Tala turned back towards the enraged and betrayed looking Chinese man. "Ray, listen to me, please. I admit that was the wrong thing to do, but that stupid plan of mine has been the last thing on my mind since we met that day for dinner the first time. I promise you…-"

"Of course,", Bryan cut him clean off. "You can choose to still keep trusting him if you want but really Ray, by now you should understand, everything he has said to you has been a lie. I mean honestly, he could've just told you I was cheating on the two of you right? But he didn't because that's the sort of bitter and manipulative little fucker he is, and you let yourself be used by him.

"Oh! And remember when I first asked you to quit the job? Only did that because he came back home from the shelter that day and went on and on about how the cute Chinese man who worked there kept checking him out. Obviously, I can see it was all a lie now, but won't you get mad if somebody came and told you your boyfriend was perving on them?"

Ray's wide eyes narrowed in what Tala hated to describe as loathing. "You purposefully drove a wedge between us?!"

"I am sorry I was being an idiot…-"

"AND HOW THE HELL DO I KNOW YOU AREN'T STILL LYING TO ME?!"

"He was cheating on you already!"

"That has absolutely nothing to do with any of this!", In a second Ray was upon him and seemed about ready to choke him to death. "You could've told me! You could've told me he was cheating on us! But you wanted to hurt me. No, you wanted to use me to hurt him.

"It's like I never even figured as a living, feeling person to you. I was just a means to an end! And then everything you said to me, every time you told me I could trust you… Like a fool, I believed every word of yours." His teeth chattered as he shivered, unable to keep his breathing calm anymore.

"That's all I have ever been, a means to an end. Someone to be used and discarded as convenient." He scoffed. "Don't even know what I have ever done to deserve any of this. What did I do to you, to either of you? Why…"

Tala could feel his head spinning, and knew that if he didn't sit down right then, he'd collapse but he knew Ray was in a way worse state. With an effort and an unanticipated stumble, Tala advanced towards his silently crying partner, only to have Ray pull away from his outreaching fingers as if his touch burned him. His face was slowly losing the flush of anger, and turning pale, tear tracts down his cheeks tearing Tala into two.

Ray's knees gave in, and he feebly dropped on to the bed, lips downturned and eyes vacant as an invisible weight made his shoulders sag. His arms lay limp by his side, and when Tala made to grab his hand, he flinched but didn't seem to find the strength to pull back again.

In a flash, Tala was on his knees in front of him. He cupped Ray's face in his hands. "Baby, I am sorry I know I fucked up but hurting you or using you, none of that has been on my mind in forever now. You make me feel things I have never felt before. Not with _him_ or anybody before him. That's why I decided to dump him because I realized what you meant to me. I told him I'd found someone. I found you. Why don't you mention that, Bryan?!" Tala whipped his head around to face the lazily smirking Russian, who leaned against the wall with the same casual grace that had first attracted Tala to him.

"Did you? I don't remember.", he shrugged.

"You bastard!", Tala spat before turning back around to face Ray. Damp golden eyes were staring right into his, but there was no question, no expectation in them anymore. Tala wasn't even sure his words were reaching the artist anymore. Shuddering, he pushed on, hoping he would somehow stumble upon the right words to ease the ache in Ray's heart.

"Please Ray, you are the most important person in my life right now. You're what matters, and nothing else. If you want to never have anything to do with me anymore, I will understand, but I need you to know that you're the most precious person in my entire world. I feel so strongly for you, its like I might burst. I even feel like… sometimes I think I might even be in lov-…"

A tight, stinging slap made Tala's head swing. When he dared to look back up at Ray, he didn't find a single trace of the rage that powered the assault. All he saw were shaking shoulders and a quivering palm pressed to Ray's forehead. Tears fell.

"Don't. Don't say you love me. If the is what love does to people, I don't wanna be loved by anyone ever again."

Tala bit his lip, his own tears starting to well and cloud his vision. "I don't deserve your trust I know but…-"

"Why are you doing this?"

Tala paused.

Ray removed his hands from his face, and selfishly Tala wished he hadn't. Looking at Ray's face now was gutting him alive.

"The game's over, you won. You defeated him, and you almost had me just now. Why are you still trying to hurt me? What will it take? What will make you stop? Would you like to fuck me in front of him to really drive it in to his skull that he lost? Or to remind me of my place in this world? Lee didn't quite stress it enough, and it seems like I forgot again. Really though, If that's what you're after, go right ahead I won't stop you."

Tala had never been punched in the stomach but he could easily describe the sensation because that's how he felt at that moment. Unable to find it in himself to say a word more, he let his tears slip out and fall onto Ray's right knee.

"Get out.", Ray whispered softly. "Leave me alone, both of you. Get out of my house."

Bryan scoffed. "I was only here for my watch that I left here this morning anyway." His footsteps padded out of the room and Tala was left alone with Ray again.

His mouth opened but Ray held up a hand.

"Please leave me alone, Tala. I don't even wanna see your face ever again."

His legs moved on their own, pulling him further and further away from the broken looking man seated on the edge of the bed. He was still wearing Tala's shirt and the sight drove the truth of what had happened into his skull. Bile and panic rose simultaneously, and before he knew he was pulling his shirt on while blindly running through the unfamiliar house, vision blurred and noisy sobs tearing through his chest.

As soon as he was out of the door, his shaking legs took the drop, and his knees met the hard gravel. His shoulders shook. He didn't know how he managed to draw his phone out, or call Kai. He didn't notice how long it took for the slate-haired man to reach him. He didn't feel the warmth that his arms provided as they wrapped around him and pulled him away. All he knew were the tears that won't stop falling, both his and Ray's.

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello. Long time no see :D**

Mind vacant and eyes unfocussed, it took Tala around ten minutes to realize they weren't driving towards his house.

He couldn't find it in him to question Kai. He had gotten a hold of himself, wiped his tears and runny nose, calming the heaving sobs he had never experienced before tonight, and a sense of such bone-deep exhaustion had replaced the panic that he felt he might black out any second now, even though it was practically impossible he would ever be able to sleep peacefully now. His hands won't lift from where they lay limp, palms up on top of his thighs. His eyes won't let him look away from the blurry images passing them by at a frantic pace outside, adamant on burning it into his consciousness that he might have let the best thing in his life pass him by just like that.

Something heavy landed in his lap, rolled off his thighs and hit his feet. Tala looked down to see a bottle of water.

"Drink up.", Kai muttered.

Tala's limbs refused to budge.

"Tala, take a sip. You're going to need it."

"I'll have a rat-kill tablet too, then."

It was a struggle, opening his mouth, forming words, delivering them, and most importantly, reaching down to pick up the bottle. Once it was in his hands, he realized how parched his throat was. A chuckle rolled out of his open mouth and the voice sounded so unlike his own, he took a second to wonder if it actually was. Then, deciding he damn well deserved a sore throat and worse, he rolled down the window and tossed the bottle out of it. Somebody on the road screamed. He rolled it back up.

Kai gave him a glance but said nothing. It felt like disappointment. Eager to escape it, Tala asked,

"Where are we even going?"

"The hospital." Kai said.

"Why?" In the back of his head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Bryan's, mocking, cruel, hateful, reminded him he never actually called Kai. A vague sense of doom started clawing its way up his chest and Tala regretted throwing the bottle away as he had nothing to clench his fingers in anymore.

"Lee broke Mariah's jaw."

…

Once Mariah was permitted to leave the hospital, they drove her over to Kai's place, which was the closest, ordered late take out and kicked back.

It took a while before she told them about what had happened.

She had left for her own place minutes after Tala had left for Ray's and she came back home to a very drunk Lee, and per-usual absent parents. That wasn't new to any of them. Her parents had barely been in the picture, ever. That was one of the major reasons why Lee was such a fuck nut now and why Mariah had learned to look after herself sooner than most kids did.

She told them how after taking one look at his face, she had known something was wrong. He looked troubled and he begged her to sit with him. They hugged each other for the first time in years and Lee broke down crying in her arms. He apologized for ruining their relationship, said he wanted a second chance in her life and that he would be a good brother. Mariah confessed for a while she thought he was being honest.

Then, after she had fixed two screwdrivers for each of them and a plate of pancakes for him, he confronted her about the video she had made Kevin delete from his phone and laptop.

Here, Mariah laughed and Tala's heart broke a little as tears started flowing down her cheeks. She seemed so hurt and he told her she didn't have to talk about it, that they could wait, that her jaw must be hurting, but she was adamant about continuing.

While under normal circumstances she would've never admitted the truth to Lee, she had been so moved by the mere idea of having at least one family member back by her side, that she confessed and told Lee what he was trying to do was wrong and she had only been looking out for everyone.

Knowing Kai, Tala threw him a warning glare to keep him from blurting out any of the stupid shit he was bound to be thinking, like 'you should've known better' or 'Lee can never change'. Judging by the petulant nod, Tala knew his assumption wasn't wrong.

As expected, Lee started screaming at her. Betrayed and angry herself, Mariah had screamed back. What they could gather from Mariah's broken sobbing was that he had threatened to hurt Queen and Mariah had sworn she'd call the police on him for any of the multiple offenses he knew she could book him in for. That was when the punches started flying. He had gotten her ribs good too, breaking nothing but injuring enough, before storming out.

Michael held her as she sobbed, then put her to sleep in the guest room. It was late enough so he crashed next to her. Tala was supposed to take the couch but he knew he won't be able to sleep anyway, so he stepped out into the balcony with a cigarette and a mug of coffee.

It took minutes for Kai to join him.

The Russian took one look at Tala and sighed. He looked tired.

"Come here." He murmured.

Like a robot, he walked into Kai's warm embrace and let his head rest against the man's shoulder, as wave after wave of realization washed over him, how much he had fucked up here, how many people he had managed to hurt, how stupid he had been. Images played behind his closed eyelids, twisted and broken from timelines and contexts, overpowering him and making it difficult to breathe. So much had happened, and all of it was his fault.

He should've just keyed Bryan's car, told Ray the truth the first time he met him and be done with it.

… because even now, the idea of never meeting Ray made his chest ache.

He didn't know how he could ever close his eyes and not immediately be reminded of the hurt, pained expression in Ray's. He didn't know how he could ever make those hateful words the Chinese man had said about himself stop playing over and over in his head, a steady reminder of how brutally he had crushed Ray's fragile, only just mending heart. He didn't know how he could look at himself in the mirror and not want to make everything just stop.

Except he couldn't. He'd have to face the consequences of what he had done, every single decision that he had willingly, consciously made to further his sick revenge plan that was bound to do nothing but hurt everyone.

He felt a shudder rack his frame. No tears came.

"What have I done, Kai?" He trembled, wrapping his arms more fully around his best friend's waist.

"What have _we_ done. This entire mess was my idea since the beginning."

If Kai was expecting Tala to deny it, he was going to be disappointed, for the mere idea that somebody was there to share his burden, relieve _some_ of his guilt was too enticing to be given up.

"What happened?" Kai asked when he realized he wasn't going to get a response from him.

"Bryan caught us making out. Put two and two together and told him everything." He couldn't say more, he couldn't tell him how broken Ray had looked, how he had begged Tala to stop hurting him and leave.

"I don't want him to hurt over this, over something that wasn't his fault at all. I don't know how to help him."

A long, weighted pause stretched and just when Tala decided Kai wasn't going to respond, he said,

"Leave him alone."

…

Tala woke up in Kai's bed and his sadistic heart decided to remind him, first thing in the morning, of the picture Ray had painted of him. He threw up.

When he told Mariah about what had happened, she gave him a very disappointed look, before hugging him and telling him he'd be okay. He didn't believe her, she didn't believe herself.

…

Tala didn't dare to try to contact Ray again, pretty sure he would be blocked from everywhere now. He didn't want to confirm it, because he knew if he wasn't he'd end up gathering the guts and messaging him again.

Ray really didn't need that, and Tala needed to finally start thinking about what Ray needed, instead of what he convinced himself was the best for everyone.

Out of some need for punishment though, he made Mariah show him the guy's Instagram one day. The first thing Tala noticed was how lonely it was.

There were a lot of pictures, really good ones with multiple fawning comments from different people. There were pictures of him from parties, in restaurants, on beaches, at the shelter and several other places around town. There were posts about his art projects, and a lot of pictures of his cats but barely any shots of him _with_ others. Sure, there were those one or two group pictures thrown in here and there, but there were no mentions of family members, or lovers, or even any really close friends that would pop up frequently. It was just… bare, like a desperately lonely man trying to cover up for the emptiness in his life by dazzling everybody with how gorgeous he, himself was.

He wondered if anybody else ever noticed to what an extent Ray had isolated himself from people.

When he compared it to how Ray's Facebook looked when he was with Bryan, Tala felt a familiar ache build up in his chest again. He had seemed so happy in all of those pictures, so full of life. Guaranteed, his relationship with Bryan was flawed, but Tala was no one to decide to wrench it away from him, all behind a man he didn't even want anymore. Bryan had been cheating but it didn't seem like they had any other issues before Tala decided to get involved. He had created a jealousy problem, which had led to Bryan's unfaithful ass self-projecting and hurting Ray over. Tala was the one to blame for all the pain Ray had felt the past few months.

"Its good that you're finally acknowledging this." Kai said.

"I have always known it."

"Have you?"

…

How two months passed, Tala didn't know. The melancholy of his days had bled into the monotony of his life, so much so that not being sad wasn't a thing he knew how to do anymore.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt guilty. The more he felt guilty, the more he wanted to set things right, which ultimately translated to him missing Ray so much, every second of the day felt like another step closer to an overdue combustion any day. He was filled with longing he didn't know how to deal with, and the weight of an overwhelming realization kept him from breathing freely.

He was in love with Ray.

When he tried saying it to Ray, it had been half panic and half honesty. He wasn't really sure, so in the end, it was another half-truth he was blurting out to manipulate the Chinese man. Now, after having thought about it and slept on it and then repeated the same again and again and again, all the while aware of the fact that he may never get to see Ray again, it had become extremely clear that he had fallen for him.

He still couldn't bring himself to contact him.

Mariah met him once after that disastrous night and he had asked point-blank if she knew what Tala's plans were. Unable to lie to him anymore, she had told him the truth. That was the last they saw of each other.

If he were perfectly honest, this entire fiasco had caused friction between her and Tala as well, but it was nothing they won't get over. It was Ray's friendship with Mariah that was sacrificed.

Inadvertently, he had cost Ray another one of the few people he seemed to trust. What hurt more was the hope Mariah described seeing in his eyes when he confronted her. _Well, the girl who hadn't lied for his own brother won't lie for an asshole trying to hurt him, definitely,_ he must have figured. Tala's heart burned.

"He agreed to see you one last time."

The words made his heart halt in his chest and stole his breath away. Tala could feel his head starting to spin, even as Kai held out an arm to steady him.

He couldn't believe it.

"What? Who?"

Kai grunted, but his eyes were soft. "Kon, who else?"

"You talked to Ray?" Tala was aware his eyes were wide and he had lost the ability to close his mouth, but he didn't care.

Kai nodded.

"I can't believe this." Betraying the confines of his heavy, and reasonably so, doubts a small smile spread on his lips. He couldn't believe, but he had been dying to hear those words for so long now.

"Don't look like that, Tala. He made no promises. He hasn't forgiven you. He just agreed to hear you out. In public, and he said he reserves punching-without-provocation privileges." Kai smiled, a little.

A chuckle fell from his lips at the last part, so, _so Ray_. He could almost imagine the Chinese man's irritated frown when he said that, hear the short, clipped tone of his voice. Ray was angry, it was clear, and that was good. He'd rather he be mad at him than continue to degrade himself over this mess.

"When?" He asked.

"Tomorrow, at eight. The same bar you first met in."

That would be painful. For him, yes but he could see why Ray would choose that place. The memory attached to it immediately put Ray in a psychological place of power. It was a small concession and it hurt Tala to see him grasping at straws like that, but he didn't say a word in complaint.

"I'll be there."

…

By the time it was seven-thirty the next evening, Tala had already been seated at the bar for four minutes.

He couldn't stop grinning, even as his nerves flailed in a mild panic. Kai had warned him this was his last shot as if he didn't know. He was scared of fucking up again, and he was determined to be fully honest. It couldn't get worse than this, only better. He wouldn't make any excuses, apologize, tell Ray he loved him, properly, and hopefully walk out of here more successful than the last time he had been here.

Practicing a nice, unassuming smile again, he smoothed down the front of his shirt. He had gone in for simple, but flattering clothes since he didn't want to give Ray the idea that he was still trying to get in his pants and yet convey that this meeting was important to him. He couldn't just run in without a thought like the last time, after all. He needed to be on his best behavior, look right, talk right, smile right and do everything he could to comfort Ray, and hopefully, win a second chance.

Yes, that was the priority. Comforting Ray and making him see that this was in no way his fault and that he was worth the stars plucked right off the sky, and nothing less. He had run a couple of scripts in his head, all varying only in terms of wording. He didn't want to risk anything though. He was well aware that this was literally his last shot at the only person in the world he had such intense feelings for. He wasn't going to go in unprepared and screw up, by mistake.

Anxiously, he checked his watch, every minute. He couldn't remember ever being this nervous before, while also being incredibly impatient. He wanted to see him, see those golden eyes and that cute, button nose that he always scrunched up just a little before ordering anything at a restaurant. That round little nose was such a contrast in his face full of sharply angled features that it had somehow become Tala's favorite part of Ray, like a reminder of the endearing softness and vulnerability of the man's heart hidden under layers of cool and composed charm.

Tala could feel himself grinning like a madman.

For the hundredth time that night, he opened the singular picture they had together. Kai had taken it in Mariah's party. A hammered Ray was cuddling into Tala's side, his face upturned as he gazed adoringly at the redhead. His mouth was open as if he was in the middle of speaking and his cheeks held a pleasant blush.

Tala himself looked positively smitten.

Checking his watch again (it was 7:47, now) he sat back, ordered himself a whiskey and started scrolling through Instagram, though hard as he tried, he always ended up going back to that picture of them together.

He smiled, and waited, sniffing himself once or twice like a heathen to make sure he still smelled good. He still couldn't believe this was happening… and it wasn't.

For, 8:00 rolled around and ticked away into 8:15. Tala was trying to keep his doubts at bay, at this point. It finally occurred to him that Ray might change his mind.

It turned 8:30 soon enough, and Tala was now aware of the sympathetic looks he was receiving from people in the bar. Everyone seemed to have realized the truth, including him.

He waited till 9:30. Ray never showed up.

Outside the bar, he beat his fist into the wall and screamed till his throat was sore. The entire drive back, he never stopped crying, as it finally, properly sank it.

Ray Kon had left him for good, and he was probably never coming back.

**A very short update because I needed to tie a couple of threads here. The rest of the story moves according to Ray's perspective. **

**Also, I am sorry but this will probably be the last update on my account for a while. I have a super important, national-level exam coming up that I absolutely HAVE to ace if I want to do anything with my life. I am thinking of taking a break from reading and writing fanfiction for a while. I have updated everything that needed to be updated for now so I can take a break in peace. I am just completing a funny little one-shot for a friend and then I'll be gone for a while. Thanks for your patience and wish me luck!**

**Don't forget to review!**


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